I think it may partly be because most of human civilization is still basically slave labor.
You indenture some people and you tell them what to build.
People don't care about problems they're not supposed to take care of. It's a detriment to them if they do.
This kind of makes it tricky to take on tasks like say, space elevators or arcologies or extraterrestrial colonies. You need expertise and constant collaboration from so many different domains it's hard for a single organization to have enough musclepower and brainpower for, even with contractors.
Then there's the tribalism. Governments may have the resources to take on global/space-scale projects but they generally try to hinder other governments, even within the same nation.
I think it may partly be because most of human civilization is still basically slave labor.
You indenture some people and you tell them what to build.
People don't care about problems they're not supposed to take care of. It's a detriment to them if they do.
This kind of makes it tricky to take on tasks like say, space elevators or arcologies or extraterrestrial colonies. You need expertise and constant collaboration from so many different domains it's hard for a single organization to have enough musclepower and brainpower for, even with contractors.
Then there's the tribalism. Governments may have the resources to take on global/space-scale projects but they generally try to hinder other governments, even within the same nation.