We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth, and to escape the sea of paper our government is becoming, and for some decent chance of stopping a Dinosaur Killer asteroid.
Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
I've got five or six unpublished stories kicking around looking for somebody to buy them.
Bruce Sterling is one terrific writer and he's relatively new, but I don't know how long he's been doing it; he probably doesn't need the publicity anymore!
We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes.
The human species really could have faced global thermonuclear war. During seventy years of Cold War we grew used to it.