Isn't that just recycling on an accelerated and grand scale? After all the chemicals/minerals all come the stars and are there waiting to be used by living things.
Probably. Everything awaits discovery, nothing is truly an invention.
We have (and have had) the energy and natural resources to develop the technology, to gain a foothold in space and further develop technology (using resources from out there), and go beyond...to a future only God can know.
Or we can sit on our keesters, downing brewskis and Big Gulps and junk food watching the 'big' game.
The coddled masses have spoken. We have spent trillions on the 'problems right here at home on Planet Earth', and they have grown accordingly.
Okay, humanity, break's over...
It's that, or back to the caves...