[extropy-chat] SPACE: new planet?

[Harvey Newstrom]

Spike,
> Harvey, I never realized why you took such interest
> in Pluto.  It's because it is carbon rich?  That
> would make it valuable real estate indeed.  I expect 
> carbon will eventually be the most valuable element 
> of all, being the most versatile.  spike

No.  I must confess that my interest in Pluto-type planetoids is not for the
carbon.  It is for sci-fi purposes of predicting the future.  We have
thousands of worlds much closer to our solar system than we knew of a decade
or two ago.  We now can colonize thousands of worlds with interplanetary
spaceships without having to invent interstellar travel or FTL ships.  These
planet(oid)s also have water, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon.  Many have
organic molecules and may even have internal pockets of liquid water!  

This is the most likely place to find life, the oldest type of planet, and
the most common planet.  This means that in the universe, these are the most
common types of habitable worlds.  We also now know that Oort clouds and
Kuiper Belts are normal structures around stars.  This means that while we
continue to search for rare Earth-type planets, we already know where there
are thousands of Pluto-type planets *per* *star* in most cases!

Their close proximity means that massive parallel colonization is much
closer (both in distance and time) than we could have predicted before.
These worlds will be the primary space frontier.  We will colonize thousands
of these before reaching many (if any) stars.  Furthermore, we will reach
these Pluto-type planets around other stars before diving down into their
gravity wells to reach their planets.  This means that even in interstellar
travel, these worlds will be reached first.

For every earth-type world that exists in our far-future, I envision
thousands or tens of thousands of Pluto-type worlds.  Many transhumanists of
the future will have their own little ice world somewhere for their own
personal use.  They have low gravity for cheaper space flight, but strong
enough for normal human activities.  They are close enough to reach with
normal space ships, but far enough away to be a frontier.  They are numerous
enough for everybody or each primary group to have their own.

Simply put, I think these Pluto-type planets are our future.  (I should
probably create a fan site for these worlds!)

-- 
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, CISA, CISM, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC
Certified IS Security Pro, Certified IS Auditor, Certified InfoSec Manager,
NSA Certified Assessor, IBM Certified Consultant, SANS GIAC Certified GSEC
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