ooh, space used to be a big thing for me, and it was my dream to be a physicist and contribute to scientific advancements, but not much anymore. Well, I'm still interested in science, but not that sort of space exploration. There's just no money or profitability in space, and nasa is viewed as a money drainer by many politicians— if you think about it, they're right, space exploration is just a hobby, or entertainment. If you're realistic, nothing will really benefit from a base on the moon or something like that. What are you going to do there? If there are things to mine like helium-4, then sure, that's beneficial, but in a larger sense... in terms of humanity, who really gives a shit? We're not going to do anything grandiose like conquer the universe, or even get to sci-fi-esque planets that are actually habitable. It's just not something I can seriously believe. No one is going to fund the start up of some huge project that'll involve some experimental space shit— we have too many problems here where we are. No politician is jaded enough about Earth to seriously fund space projects, and the public will never be either. Even if they did, I still don't think anything would result unless we make a monumental breakthrough out of some sci-fi movie.
I think it's a pipe dream. A lot of people assume the future means crazy faster-than-light travel shit, but get real. We'll stay here until the end.