Maybe Asteroid Mining Isn't Totally Crazy

Scientific American:

Despite initial skepticism, the Planetary Resources plan seems like it is at least not totally insane. The company is not claiming to be able to lasso platinum-laden space rocks back down to Earth. Rather they have outlined a cautious step-by-step approach that is not unlike the exploratory strategy that NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission architects Damon Lindau and Nathan Strange laid out in Scientific American’s December 2011 issue. Asteroid towing is also theoretically possible, as described by scientists and astronauts in a 2003 SciAm article about how to prevent a dangerous asteroid from ending civilization. If the company can establish an orbital base, a mining operation could in theory extract the energy and materials it needed to operate, eventually making it self-sustaining. If only the same thing could be said of its home planet.

I'm still going to stay on the skeptical side.  I do think the last sentence of the quote is pretty important.  I think those guys could reap more benefits for humanity by doing research here.  Escaping from a failing Earth doesn't seem like the safest survival strategy for our progeny.