Sure, But Who's Gonna Pay to Colonize Space?

Science fiction is full of grand visions of humanity launching colony ship fleets to settle alien worlds. It is, but sci-fi author James Patrick Kelly wants to know who would be paying for all those ambitious colonization missions. "It's a truism that the field doesn't acknowledge that very few, if any, science fiction writers have any idea of economics," Kelly says in Episode 264 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. In Kelly's new novel Mother Go, opposition to a colony ship steadily mounts as the launch date approaches because a vocal'Earth First' faction doesn't want to see so much technology and talent depart the planet forever. Kelly thinks that's an all-too-plausible scenario.