[ExI] Moon Bases Not Needed (Kevin) (Dan)

[Dan]

I think there are a range of scenarios possible from the worst case where some tech or other disaster happens and, yes, lunar bases and the like won't do much good, but there are others where they would. You wouldn't, I trust, argue one shouldn't have lifeboats simple because there are shipping disasters where lifeboats won't matter, such as, say, an asteroid hitting the ship. :)
 
My view on lunar or space settlement is to proceed slowly anyhow and build capabilities slowly. Yes, this just means spreading the costs over a longer term, but it also means no or very few big Manhattan or Apollo projects that gobble up lots of resources. And this can, I believe, work. It's kind of like colonizing the Pacific islands via small steps on small craft with tiny communities versus a huge national or international effort to build ocean liners and vast cities. No doubt, had the latter been the road to doing this, the Pacific islands would likely have been uninhabited until the 18th or 19th century and then only by teams of bureaucrats and soldiers in a few "secure" facilities.
 
Regards,
 
Dan

From: Kevin G Haskell <kgh1kgh2 at gmail.com>
To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: [ExI] Moon Bases Not Needed (Kevin) (Dan)


Dan wrote:

>There are many paths to the top of the mountain. Also, one might like to >have a safe haven in case whatever comes next is not anything like what >folks here are planning or hoping for. For instance, imagine one of the horror >scenarios plays out -- nanotech gone wild or Skynet or whatever (e.g., >someone doses me with caffeine again:). It might be good idea to have >some people and assets off world.
>?
>By the way, I think the costs you're estimating are high even for a >government space program. But if one works at this via non-governmental >programs -- i.e., voluntarilty, costs might be much lower (and development >might proceed along many fronts, e.g., building up capabilities piecemeal >as opposed to one monster project that sucks in gobs of resources and >people).
>?
>Regards,
>?

If things go horrible on Earth, it will be a quick and easy stop off at the moon by the new AGI species to finish the job and end the rest of us.

Prices won't just include getting a few people there, but creating enough secure buildings to create a decent sized community, complete with human, animal, and plant life.  So we are likely looking at least a trillion dollars, and it would really only make sense if we needed to locate the same materials somewhere up there that are mostly located in China as "rare-earth" materials.  Then they would have to be able to have mining equipment up their somehow, and then get it back to Earth on a regular basis.

Kevin
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