Our current age is not one of infinte plenty.

What this means if that if somehow we managed to make a classless society today, that after a certain amount of time it would start deteriating as the resources were drained. ( This is assuming that by redestributing the current resources that we have, we would not be able to generate more resources faster than they were used.)

Thus, something like the space station is essental, because then the human race isn't limited to the resources of the planet earth, but instead that of the universe. Indeed, its hard to say 'let people have hard times now', but a possible future is much worse. An example is: Weath is redistributed. Everyone is happy(*) In a certain amount of time, we realize that we need to get off earth, because we are running out of resources. We start a space program back up ( because it had been canceled before, because it was a waste of resources ), however we don't get it significantly advanced. We run out of resources. The Human Race is doomed to a slow long death.

The problem with resources is that if society was classless, how would scientists get the resouces they needed? There would be two ways of achieving this: having everyone agree that the scientists need much, much more than anyone else, which is unlikely, when as much as spent on scientists as it is now. The only other way to achieve that is a government, and with govenment you cannot have a classless society.

(*) This is the biggest part of a classless society. If everyone is not happy, what is the point? All that has been done is take people that weren't happy and made them happy while others have been made unhappy.

Thus classless societies need infinite resources or else they will die.

Talk about moving the goalposts!

As a continuation of this thought experiment, I'm not sure we've made much improvement. The population of the world may be large, but it's not infinite. Some even believe its growth is slowing.

The easiest way to slow population growth, also the best for society at large, because it frees up more intellectual resources, is to educate women--particularly in those fast growth, less developed societies.

Continuing the thought from the previous writeup, distributing some of the plenty we now have to the second world and the third world would achieve two goals: slow the growth of population before it becomes infinite, and generate more of the truly infinite human resource--educated intelligence

I once believed the future of humanity lay in the stars--and still moved by fiction that portrays this. But I came to the realization that arguements such as this one are truly blind to the reasons why things are the way they are.

I remain interested in a true thought experiment that doesn't have its conclusion for its premise.

To move into space without taking a hard critical look at what we are, and how we got here, will leave us unchanged. It will leave us with a "fouled nest" at home--and we will take our fouling ways with us.

The frontier is an idea. We should realize that, and take the lesson.

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