Emma trying to figure that for herself. But, like most probability problems, the answer was counterintuitive. - Stephen Baxter

The law is a weapon of government, not a protection for the likes of you. Surely you understand that.

Empty. Barren. These were the true conditions of the Universe, she thought; life, and variety, and energy, were isolated aberrations.

But even the steady state, our best-hope future, may not be achievable without space.
Without power and materials from space we are doomed to shuffle a known—in fact diminishing—stockpile of resources around the planet. Some players get rich; others get poor. But it’s not even a zero-sum game; in the long term we are all losers.