Who is "we"? Evidently a sufficient number of people want to to make private ventures have a reasonable expectation of profit. If you personally don't want to, then just don't get involved. But why should that stop people who do want to from doing it?
> It’s just leisure.
No, it's exploration with the expectation that it will lead to profitable ventures. The same thing that led people to spend months in sailing ships traveling around the world a few centuries ago. Plenty of people back then did not want to participate--but enough people did to eventually lead to the very profitable and wealth-generating system of worldwide trade we have now.
> The same thing that led people to spend months in sailing ships traveling around the world a few centuries ago
The only real equivalent I can think of was the Arctic/Antarctic exploration. However that was massively cheaper and the environment was much more hospitable and not particularly profitable (and they couldn't send drones etc.). Most prior ventures had very practical goals and motivations and were mostly seeking a direct profit even if it didn't always work out.
> have a reasonable expectation of profit
Mainly through government funding though. The only directly profit generating activity that exists is launching satellites which on itself wouldn't really justify all the investment.
> The only directly profit generating activity that exists is launching satellites which on itself wouldn't really justify all the investment.
In the very short-term, yes. In the mid-term, there's a lucrative industry of space tourism yet to be built. In the long-term, there are riches beyond our imagination to be exploited from asteroids and other Solar System objects. All of this should be motivating enough for companies, welwala.
Who is "we"? Evidently a sufficient number of people want to to make private ventures have a reasonable expectation of profit. If you personally don't want to, then just don't get involved. But why should that stop people who do want to from doing it?
> It’s just leisure.
No, it's exploration with the expectation that it will lead to profitable ventures. The same thing that led people to spend months in sailing ships traveling around the world a few centuries ago. Plenty of people back then did not want to participate--but enough people did to eventually lead to the very profitable and wealth-generating system of worldwide trade we have now.