[satisfice]

Can we have a science paper that explains why we can colonize Andromeda but we can’t build high speed rail?

[fnord77]

There's no NIMBYs in Andromeda

[db48x]

Well, that we know of. None that can object to our sending the probes, at any rate.

[hgoel]

In one case "we" is an imaginary humanity as a whole acting to fulfill a grand species defining mission, in the other case "we" is the real, decadent, ignorant and divided population of some countries.

[psychoslave]

Because we don't refer to the same entities in each case?

[satisfice]

You silly men. You think green fields and blue sky thinking will make space colonization less expensive and more obtainable than a new airline terminal.

Of course the proof is in the utter lack of progress toward obtaining the stars, despite the stars in your credulous eyes.

There is antidote to what ails you: try thinking about this for five minutes straight.