[ExI] Moon Bases Not Needed (Kevin Haskell)

[Keith Henson]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 5:00 AM,  Kevin Haskell <kgh1kgh2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why would we need moon bases if we hope to evolve, soon??

I presume this refers to the technological singularity, but the
operative words you use are "hope to" and soon.  "Hope" and "soon" are
vague.  If we run out of cheap energy before major technical advances,
the carrying capacity of the earth on sustainable energy is 1-2
billion people.  What happens to the rest of them?

snip

> Wasting money on moon bases would only divert trillions of dollars from money that should be otherwise be directed at something productive for the human race.

There are two ways to mine the moon without having a base there at
all.  Do it with robots/teleoperated devices or a mining crawler in
the end of a lunar elevator.  It is possible to imagine ways to spend
trillions of dollars to set up moon base, but that's why it is
extremely unlikely it will be done.

On the other hand, a beamed energy propulsion project to reduce the
cost of getting to GEO down to $100/kg is a reasonable way to solve
the energy problem.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7898

Keith