[ExI] The Moon's Cold Embrace

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 8:02 AM John Clark via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Jun 13, 2020 at 3:02 AM Giulio Prisco via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> > *If Trump wins US astronauts will probably walk on the Moon before the
>> end of the decade. [...] If Trump loses, good bye Artemis and the hope to
>> return to the Moon.*
>
>
> Good. At this point in our technological development I see little point in
> sending astronauts to the moon and even less to Mars.
>

### Spacex promises to reduce launch costs to LEO to $100/kg in the not too
distant future. There is continued progress in robotics and additive
manufacturing. The weight of a 90% self-sustaining technological ecosystem
is dropping. At some point in the not too distant future it will be
possible to establish a self-enlarging but not self-sufficient
technological presence on the Moon at a cost accessible to affluent
Americans. Giant lunar lava tubes might offer hundreds of square miles of
protected space to build cities supported by high-efficiency farming.

I would consider emigrating to the Moon if cryonic suspension was available
there. In the polar regions there are cold traps with stable subsurface
temperatures estimated at 38K. This is a potentially highly stable,
long-term protected burial space for people interested in the far future.

An important issue is the potential for rapid sociological change that
could be achieved on the Moon by self-selection and controlled immigration
into new political entities only weakly associated with telluric powers.
Our enemies' assaults would be thwarted by space and distance while we
proceed with the transformations Extropians have dreamed of for a long time.

Rafal
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