You say, “On religion and humanism, for me they are actually the same thing, but seeing it that way requires a pretty loose interpretation of religion, I think.”

Sorry, if you say that, then you haven’t studied either humanism or religion sufficiently. There is no great mystery to any religion. There are no riddles. Religions are the interpretations of primitive, uneducated people who lived thousands of years ago. They tried to make sense of the world with their limited understanding. There is nothing hidden about it.

You might like to read my book – Good without God.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H1ZGJKX

I spent a good 45 years studying various religions and schools of thought. That should be evident from the above book.

In the early stages of civilization, there was no profit. Barter was the norm. And barter made sure things were equal in exchange. It was only when currency replaced barter that some dishonest people saw that they could get away with paying less for something than it was worth.

Since the time mankind has accepted profit as acceptable, there has been increasing inequality amongst mankind. Look at primitive tribes living in the Amazon. There is no inequality.

There will never be interplanetary travel. Mankind’s body would not withstand it, and we don’t have the lifespans to endure it. It’s a pie in the sky concept brought about by people thinking science fiction is reality. Nor will we ever have a powerful enough technology.

You say, “Its been sixty years since only the moon landing, but we’ve gone no further.” I’m not quite sure whether you mean mankind hasn’t traveled further or whether NASA has conducted no new research. They’ve conducted a massive amount of research, and maybe mankind will one day put a man on Mars or some other planet within our solar system, but that is as far as it will go.

You say, “As someone with experience of working in the space industry, I don’t see anything much we might interpret as progress there.” Your comment is too generalized for me to take it seriously. My daughter also worked for NASA for 5 years – in the science museum teaching school kids. Working in the space industry doesn’t make one an expert on what is possible or probable.

I doubt NASA is driven by profit. It’s paid for by taxes. How do you think it’s funded by profit? What is true is that it has been largely defunded.

You say, “We can’t compare a few extroverted rich individuals playing around with old rocket technology, throwing their sportscars and various shrapnel satellites into the air, surrounded by adoring fans showering them with applause and shares funding, with the co-ordinated government efforts which existed in the sixties, it seems to me.”

I would agree with you on that. Elon Musk is an idiot.