[ExI] Space Mining

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Ben Zaiboc:

> Yes, good points. But, to niggle, I wouldn't call it 'fuel' when it's
> actually 'reaction mass'. Water is also good for radiation shielding (as
> is hydrogen if dense enough).

I did not call it fuel. The article John Grigg posted did. :-)

> Not that I think any of this is really relevant, though, because space
> is not a good place for biology. But I've voiced that opinion enough
> times now. It seems that space colonisation (by biological humans) is a
> topic like uploading (except in reverse). No real point arguing about
> it, given people's resistance to logical argument.


I do agree with you that machines would be better suited to outer  
space than biologicals. But colonization of space by biological humans  
is the only rational decision if the alternative is genetic and  
cultural stagnation leading to extinction here on Earth. In another  
thread, they talk about John Calhoun's mouse utopia experiments, the  
behavioral sink, and population collapse. Such a scenario could easily  
affect humanity here on Earth. We are, for example, already  
experiencing a reversal of the Flynn effect and for the last 50 years,  
the average IQ has been dropping. This stagnation becomes more likely,  
the closer we move to a global one world government. A big commonality  
of behavioral sinks are the closed nature of the habitats in which  
they develop.

Being able to leave the Earth, despite all the danger and hardship,  
might be humanity's one saving grace.

Stuart LaForge