[idlewords]

My big-picture point is simply that electronics are getting small and cheap much faster than launch costs are decreasing, so that is the important trend. We could have a revolution in space exploration and remote sensing even if launch costs flatlined.

Beyond that I'm not sure what we're arguing about, so I'll tap out here.

[kragen]

they aren't commensurable; as ben tilly pointed out, you cannot replace the oxygen you need to breathe with a sufficiently large quantity of granite (without equipment and energy to process it, anyway), and you cannot replace lower launch costs with smaller and cheaper electronics, in particular in the areas you named, space exploration and remote sensing, for the reasons i described

now, bring me a shrubbery!