Solve for X: Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson on space exploration

Problem: If humanity is to move off Earth and become an interplanetary species, it will need an economic reason to do so. Solution: Near-earth asteroids contain (literally) trillions of dollars worth of resources and materials that could be harvested and brought back to Earth. A number of them are also energetically easier to get to than the surface of the Moon. That tremendous bounty creates a huge incentive for the private sector to create the requisite detection, propulsion and harvesting technology to