Pressing issues such as homelessness and hunger.
What do you mean, “assuming space is real”?
We start from the assumption that space is real, to preclude any discussion on whether it is real or not.
We have the resources to do all of the above. Right now. Today. But instead imperialist greed wins out.
There are enough homes for the unhoused, in wealthy western countries at least. In over-exploited global majority nations the resources are there, they just need to be freed from imperial exploitation.
There is enough food for everyone, but instead of being eaten it is disproportionately distributed or wasted in a plethora of banal and creative ways.
Even after all that there are still resources available for the exploration of space if we so choose, and I am convinced that we should. Space exploration teaches us so much, not only about our universe, but our place in it, and novel solutions to problems which could and have been applied elsewhere.
As usual, the problem isn’t space exploration itself, it’s the capitalist system in which it happens, at least in the western world. Communist nations such as the USSR and PRC have made incredibly important contributions to space exploration and related fields as well, because they recognize its importance to humanity.
I agree. Then the question can be rephrased: is space exploration possible while capitalism is the dominant economic form on Earth? We can’t explore space in earnest while millions (if not billions) suffer under capitalism, can we?
