[ExI] De-Orbiting Gold

Adrian Tymes atymes at gmail.com
Mon May 21 03:26:59 UTC 2012


On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 2:53 PM, Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 12:18 PM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Because, at this time, no one will buy raw materials in orbit - at
>> least, not for any price that someone capable of delivering it would
>> accept.
>>
>> Without that, the value is zero, by definition.
>
> Tis sad, but true. I think you could, however, set up a kind of space
> bank. Adrian, you pay me $1000 for an ounce of gold in orbit, and
> Mike, you pay me $4000 for a ton of copper in orbit, and you just hold
> that as stored value (money) until you exchange it for something else,
> or you create something with it. This kind of money is probably
> preferable by many people to fiat currency. At least there is
> something real that some day you can hope to recover and put to use.

Not really.  Currency has value because people believe in its worth.
Most people believe that raw materials in space are currently worth
nothing.  Until after you convince them otherwise - which is probably
going to require the existence of fabrication equipment in space - you
still have no customers.

>> Nope.  No customers = no value.  Coins and jewelry can be sold;
>> space elevator counterweights can not.
>
> I disagree, I think it could be sold. Especially when once the space
> elevator is built

And here is where you miss my point.

Once the space elevator is built...

Once there is a way to use the stuff in orbit...

At some future date, when X happens...

I'm talking about right now, when none of that has happened yet.  So
are most people, especially those outside this list.

I agree, there is a way to make these things have value.  But that
is a far cry from these things already having value - even significant
speculative value - today, that you can draw from.

> I would buy a piece of a space elevator counterweight. It's
> great money...

Would you?  Then would you invest in a venture that sought to
create a space elevator?  How much are you willing to part with?

The answer, of course, is not a high enough price that anyone
capable of delivering would accept your contract.

>> Which gets to the heart of the problem: lack of fabrication capability
>> in space.
>
> That is a problem for sure, but it is a different problem.

Nope.  It is the problem at hand here.

>> Once someone launches the equivalent of a machine
>> shop, or some other way to make use of raw materials in orbit (such
>> as there actually being a space elevator, or one under construction),
>> then and only then might raw materials in orbit gain value.
>
> Again, if you think of it as stored money, where every ounce is
> assigned to someone, that's real money folks!

Convince a bunch of people to think of it that way, and then it will be.
We're talking many thousands of people, at a bare minimum, to be
what most would consider "money"

Haven't convinced that many yet?  Then, sorry, it is not stored money
yet.




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