[ExI] pentagon wants orbiting solar power stations

[Eugen Leitl]

On Tue, Oct 16, 2007 at 10:47:50PM +0200, Dagon Gmail wrote:

> The immense difficulty of creating an industry in near-space,
> with development of lunar or NEAR asteroid ores, as well as
> harvesting solar energy is so incredibly disheartening it gives

We *are* already harvesting solar energy. There's four orders
of magnitude more energy at the bottom of the gravity well
we currently need. Advanced cultures probably don't need more
than 10-100 W for a single human equivalent individual.

> me a nauseous feeling. My gut is telling me things are going
> all wrong.

Then go into engineering, or start a business, and make it happen.
I'm serious. If you don't yet know what do with your life, that's
an interesting and lucrative niche. Before very long, it will
become a mature industry, and entry threshold will have become
too high for small new players.
 
> It is all but certain that we will need to take this step, barring
> a Kurzweilean quantum leap in AI/Nanotech/longevity advances.
> I am concerned to rely in my expectations on any singularities,
> it would be just too convenient. I really want to see industry
> and accompanying economical growth start real fast, as I
> am really starting to get nervous about the Peak Oil issue.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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