>There's a ton of risk just in getting out of the house and driving on the road. But there's risk in sitting on your ask at home too.

The risk factor involved in manned space missions versus a trip to the grocery store has got to be huge orders of magnitude in difference. This is an unfair, and frankly, useless comparison.

>if our choice was to explore the Solar System with a vehicle no safer than the Soyuz or to stay at home the choice has to be to explore, every time.

This is where I can't agree. You have to define "explore" - i.e. the particular objective of that flight on a case by case basis - and ask if it really warrants sending a human being up to do that job. Yes? Then by all means. Do it. No? Then find a safer alternative that accomplishes the same goal and that sheds the challenges of keeping a human being alive in a truly hostile and unforgiving environment. Also, I wouldn't consider sending an autonomous vehicle out to explore as "staying at home".

I get the emotional appeal... I just don't think it's rational for every case unless we really need a human's capabilities in space.