And then there are those who are so religiously intolerant that they are encouraged to go somewhere else to practice their beliefs away from ordinary people.
Which is how the Puritan splinter group known in America as the Pilgrims are remembered over here.

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An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

Rightfully so. At least, that's what a look into the history indicates to me.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Yeah, you couldn't have sent some fun-loving, tolerant group to form the basis of American society? Thanks a lot!

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

yeah, they could have, but then we'd probably still be stopping everything 4 times a day to drink tea and we'd still have that funny accent.

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

Of course not, that's the kind of people we want to stay.

Actually I think that's likely to be a problem with almost every place mainly populated through emigration, it's going to be filled with people who for various reasons couldn't make it at home.

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An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

Which includes those who are adventurous and get bored with settled life. "Not making it" isn't always a sign of failure, just a poor fit with your circumstances.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

"The meek shall inherit the Earth when the strong move on to the stars"

What better way of shedding the dead weight of freeloaders, hangers on, and degenerate charity cases than coming up with a future that relies totally on rugged individualism, sheer determination, and an absolute commitment to building a future for yourself without someone handing it to you?

A neocolonial period would do wonders to save humanity from the hand to mouth, nannystatists that are slowly choking the drive to succeed and overcome that once defined the best in us (and sometimes, the worst).

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

I don't think "rugged individualism" is going to fly in space. To survive there, cooperative efforts are absolutely essential. It's not like one can just wander off into the bush and hunt or trap for the pot. Every act of survival under space conditions will require groups of people acting in concert. Establishing an infrastructure of mining and manufacturing, building habitats, establishing and maintaining life support, growing food, all team efforts.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Or they might already have a comfortable life at home, but still find even better conditions elsewhere.
That's enough reason for many scientists to emigrate to the US.

Rugged individualism doesn't necessarily imply divorcing oneself entirely from the species, mind you. Its about being a self starter with enough drive to be self reliant to the limits of one's ability before asking for help. There are things in life that are simply not possible for the individual, but there's a lot that are. The key is keeping the list of things you can do alone as long as possible, so you're not an excessive burden on others.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Touche! I see your point. Yes, I guess maybe the initial stages of colonization*-- when we get to that point, whenever that is-- will require highly skilled (and many-skilled) individuals with a self-confident attitude.

*Or more accurately, preparation for colonization; the early semi-"settlers" who go up to build the first infrastructures for creating the larger and more permanent habitats, but don't have kids in space or live there. Once the habitats are built, only the skills to maintain them are needed-- still many and various, but not quite so daunting.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Re: Why would we go to the stars?


Wy would did our ancestors come to America?

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Fields of Space

LOGIC, n.
The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

In the Year 2525.

"One small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind".

If an astronaut doesn't need good grammar, niether does you.

DDT, Removing invisible elves from backyards since 1939.