Colonization of space is on my mind since I got up this morning. The window of opportunity is closed by now, but the last century was the right time for it. Stupid as they are, humans could still have done it, I am quite sure. And the colonization of the inner solar system would have been the feat that could have ushered much more to come. In a couple of centuries, the most intrepid among the colonists could have been on their way to one of the neighboring stars, if not a few of them. And it would have been just in the nick of time, for the next glaciation is already lurking on earth. What happened, though? What came in the way of space colonization? The two world wars, no doubt. Much of the technology needed for space colonization was developed for the slaughter instead. Stupidity, no doubt. The trouble is that the next window of opportunity will open in more than a hundred-thousand years from now, for it will take a good chunk of another interglacial period to get going one more time. Alas, chances are that world wars will intervene again. And again. Silly thoughts, but how many cycles will stupid humans need to venture in space at long last, if ever?