- the moon and mars (let alone the other planets) are _not_ hospitable to humans. pure fantasy to consider fruitful colonization.
- the next stop outside of our solar system is lifetimes away, who would actually want to live in a moving space station? yuck
- more efficient energy and transportation systems - why? so we can cram even more people onto this planet? how many is enough (or too much)?
- more/better gadgets? games? sad - aim higher.
the big questions we need to solve are those pertaining to sustainable living (as a population). the only people giving this thought these days are crackpots.
we have significant peak-this-or-that issues staring us right in the face. if we don't stop farting around w/ 'golden age' SF fantasies, and start working on the real problems we face .. we'll be looking at another dark age rather than crying about not playing frisbee on Neptune.