I get what you're saying but in this case I have to ask, can we really not get those benefits without risking lives? Would it become impossible? Or would it just take longer?
Can robots do it?
I hate arguing this position because I want to go to space physically in person in my lifetime. But it doesn't make sense to send humans if robots can do the job because space is inimicable to life and life support is very hard and expensive and heavy.
Risk lives to stave off an asteroid but not to mine it.
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I don't want to get into a side-thing about driving, but I don't drive in part because I see it as a Faustian bargain: we get transportation that's so convenient at the cost of forcing people to participate in a death-and-mayhem lottery. Traffic is a meat-grinder.
We’ve sent many robots to space and to mars. But they are very limited in their scope and ability. Where a human can have near limitless scope and ability.
Watch some of the mars rover videos and it becomes clear how frustrating it must be for the scientists on earth to do research on mars remotely.
More frustrating than being blown up on the launch pad!?
Mark S. Miller had a site with a list of "adages", here's one I really liked:
"A Computer's Perspective on Moore's Law: Humans are getting more expensive at an exponential rate."
This is true, although slower, for robots.
Look, if you want to risk your life to go to space, I'm fine with that. I do too.
But if NASA or Musk or Bezos or whoever want to unnecessarily risk other peoples' lives to make a buck faster, or even just explore Mars, that's irresponsible and kinda fucked up, is my opinion.
For example, I think Mars One is awesome! (Stupid and doomed, but still awesome.) Colonizing Mars to have a "backup" Earth is important enough (in my opinion) that it's noble to risk your life to achieve it ASAP.
Mining an asteroid, although I personally would love to try it, is not quite so noble, eh?
The less "risk-averse" space program was happening in a very different context: the "Space Race" [1] which was in many ways a continuation or extension of the Cold War, which was in many ways a continuation or extension of WWII.
Can robots do it?
I hate arguing this position because I want to go to space physically in person in my lifetime. But it doesn't make sense to send humans if robots can do the job because space is inimicable to life and life support is very hard and expensive and heavy.
Risk lives to stave off an asteroid but not to mine it.
- - - -
I don't want to get into a side-thing about driving, but I don't drive in part because I see it as a Faustian bargain: we get transportation that's so convenient at the cost of forcing people to participate in a death-and-mayhem lottery. Traffic is a meat-grinder.