Colonising Space/Leaving earth with the right attitude
If mankind colonises space enabled by a programme based upon free and open-source-style collaboration, it would set the tone for future generations living off-Earth in terms of encouraging co-operation and resource sharing.
This iconic example should influence the pioneering descendant cultures and help reduce the chances of overtly self-serving forms of commercialism taking root and also lessen the liklihood of conflicts arising from aggressive exclusionist groups that might otherwise be more common.
After all if we do successfully colonise space, it is likely that eventually more of humanity will exist off the Earth than on it, so the fact that their whole way of life might be owed to this human-centric, inclusive, free and open principles would be fairly significant.
