[ExI] Easter Island again

[Damien Broderick]

At 10:15 PM 3/25/2009 -0700, Lee wrote:

[Keith:]
>>This is in the context of mining the moon.  I don't see how
>>to do it.  I don't know if I could do it on a budget of many billions
>>and ship loads of equipment.
>
>Nice challenge. How about hydroponics? Is the capital chain
>really so long that the mining, smelting, and so on couldn't
>be done, say, with your billion $ or so up front to start it
>off?

But but but--Jeff has already said twice that he's talking about 
*telefactored bots* on the moon, directed or perhaps overseen from 
earth (but presumably with some fairly wily computer programs on 
board; I can imagine a large central thing as well with lots of 
grunt, but that might well be less realistic these days than a cloud 
or swarm). No humans need be harmed in the making of this Luna!

Objection 1: it's too soon, we don't have good enough bots. Reply: 
Moore's Law and lots of dollars. Objection 2: you can't make anything 
useful out of dirt without ample water. Reply: erm, well, good point. 
Is it a killer objection?

Damien Broderick