I imagine this sub is familiar with the new book "A City on Mars" by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (the latter best known for the brilliant Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic). But if you're not: Read it.

They make a detailed, intelligent and funny case for slowing down efforts to settle space, diving deep into biology (including poop and sex, as you might expect from SMBC) and technology and space geography and - this is what's most unusual - law and politics.

The book makes a very convincing argument that not only are Musk-type space settlement dreams unrealistic to the point of delusional, they risk inflaming country-vs-country tension, which we definitely don't need. It would be better for all to proceed slowly and cautiously, as a global group, just as we have done with Antarctica and the seabed.

That sounds like glib crunchy-granola talk but in their hands it's very compelling.