Film Theory: The Evil Mastermind You Didn't Notice In Interstellar
2. NASA's Real Plan To Sell Interstellar Travel To The Rich And Powerful
So if the situation on earth isn't as bad as it's being made out to be, why are NASA so bent on convincing everyone that is, and finding a new habitable planet? Well, because it's their brilliant get-rich-again scheme. They want to mint money from the possibly large demographic that is annoyed about how boring and dull things are going to be on earth for a very long time.
In the scene that the film begins with we see numerous screens fitted into yards in what is later revealed to be a space pod, with elderly people talking about how boring and dusty it used to be on earth when they were growing up.
What purpose do these messages serve, and more importantly, how did these people live to be so old on what was supposed to be a dying planet running out of food? They look an awful lot like commercial advertisements, don't they? The space pod itself is shaped like a bubble - a bubble that the mind-bogglingly rich exist in.
There's no way NASA were going to send 5000 embryos to be brought up by robots - there will need to be adult population - and who are the adults who would get to go? Obviously not regular chaps! Scientists, politicians, sponsors, and rich people who can afford a seat on a spaceship to another planet.
Imagine how much a chance to be a pioneering settler population on a new planet would sell for. Imagine how much power these people would hold there amidst a bunch of babies and machines! Technology that was dead and buried on earth would be back in business big time for those who're leaving earth - in fact, they'll have to rely on it for everything.
This would give enormous power in the hands of the people who own that technology - that's NASA and the people who have been funding them.
Meanwhile, back on earth, they're probably going to aggressively market a fun, non-dusty, technologically advanced future on another planet, and people from all sections of society will increasingly give in to the greed of accumulating enough resources for their ticket to a brighter future. And before you know it, the same structures that ended up screwing humanity over will re-establish themselves.