This weekend was the ISDC, the International Space Development Conference. Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, has been attending for years, and says it has definitely lost the science-fiction convention feel that it used to have, and that there are a lot of pretty women, probably there for the men in suits who have lots of money and want to spend it on space development.

Anyway, it's all pretty damn exciting to me. If I had a few billion dollars, I would totally be setting up space ventures. People with tons of money like Paul Allen (Microsoft), Richard Branson(Virgin), Jeff Bezos(Amazon), and John Carmack(id Software) are lining up to start or invest in space development, and they are going to have a real hand in shaping the future. Andrew Carnegie thought rich people should have legacies besides money, and that's why he paid for libraries and such all over the country, he wanted his money to do good. Well what more of a legacy to humanity is there than to help open up the stars?

This is real, people. Once private money starts getting thrown at something, things happen. We will have space tourism for $200,000 a flight within 5 years if the government doesn't try to over-regulate. And we will have people living in space in permanent habitats within 20, maybe even less. If someone can get a space elevator going within 20 years, which is definitely possible, then the whole solar system opens up. Mining colonies in the asteroid belt.... It may be a cliche in every Sol-based sci-fi book, but it will happen within 50 years.

It's a great time to be alive.