You say that like the entire space program / space race wasn't one great big self centred circle jerk for no other reason than to do it before the Russians did (and the Russians to do it before the Americans), and that people don't get into it for the feel good factor of "I did that" or "I worked on that" due to id, ego and super ego.
Now I say this as a major lover of sci-fi, space, and the unknown frontiers, but...
I cant see a single benefit to space exploration for the human race at this moment in time. I think if we spent the money we spend on space exploration on things like renewable energy then we would get past our need to get to space (more living space, possible sources of materials etc).
In my opinion there is nothing we can find sat on another planet that we cant find on earth because all the planets in our solar system originate from the same core materials and are bombarded by the same extra solar bodies.
On top of that, logic dictates that in an infinite universe, with the timelines we are talking about from the big bang onwards, if alien life existed then somewhere in the universe there would be races advanced enough communicate with / travel to us. And logically if theres one like that there would be many, so even if several say "they're too immature, we cant talk to them" there would be others that say "stuff that, lets land and enslave them". So logically we would know about aliens by now if they existed. So no need for trying to contact someone with fantastic technology to advance us.
If you asked someone, "excuse me sir, what are the real world benefits to getting in to space", what would they say? We can put a man on the moon? People could live on mars? Why? to escape the climactic changes to earth? Would earths downfall ever make it as inhospitable as mars?
*Rant over
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