Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: "John Ringo" <jringo1508@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 18 Aug 2005 09:56:45 -0700
rja.carnegie@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Ken from Chicago wrote:
> > "James Nicoll" <jdnicoll@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> > news:ddnl7q$5le$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> > > That's a proposal on _how_ to exploit space, not why. Does he give
> > > a why?
> >
> > The good of all humankind.
> >
> > And profit--
>
> Yeah, imagine our surprise.
>
> Not that I'm against the idea, if I benefit too.
>
> > the universe's resources are waiting to be mined and sent back
> > to Earth merely for the cost of the initial launch of self-replicating
> > robots.
>
> Well, that would be nice. For instance, I need a remote for this VCR.
> I'd be happy to have one float down from the sky.
There are issues involved here that are only recently coming to light.
Notably, that the majority of "space stuff" is very light volatiles
that aren't actually going to be of much use. You can get more steel,
for example, much more easily, by mining land-fills than asteroids. And
with the possible exception of a potential Neptunian petroleum layer
(yes, I said that correctly. Don't ask for the cite; it was a paper by
IIRC, a British female planetologist about three years ago) there's not
much out there that is limited on earth. Copper is super scarce, ditto
gold, vanadium, molybdenum and platinum. There's a fair bit of
titanium, but that's not particularly limited in availability on earth,
it's limited in utility.
(One theory that supports this is that during solar system formation
the light volatiles got "blasted" out into the deeps while the heavier
stuff "stuck around." Thus you tend to get, it's believed, rocky worlds
in the inner system and gas giants in the outer. Yes, most of the
planets found have been gas giants "close in." But the current methods
can only _detect_ "gas giants close in." They _should_ be rare. If they
are, then just about every single star is going to have planets. The
possible exception is very dim red dwarfs.)
One of the arguments I have made in the past for "why I have evil
aliens invading the earth rather than mining the asteroids or dead
planets" has to do with the extreme loveliness of tectonics. Which
neither asteroids, nor the moon nor Mars nor Venus, have. Tectonics
pulls up all those lovely heavy metals and deposits them where they can
be extracted with relatively low difficulty.
And there's no current shortage, or foreseeable shortage, of the sort
of stuff you'd get in space. Unless there really _is_ a kilometer thick
layer of petroleum-ish hydrocarbons on Neptune.
John
.
- References:
- Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: Onyxhawke
- Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: Ken from Chicago
- Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: James Nicoll
- Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: Ken from Chicago
- Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: James Nicoll
- Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: Ken from Chicago
- Re: Worst SF/F book you've read
- From: rja.carnegie@xxxxxxxxxx
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