This is extremely heartening. I think we always over-estimate the level of threat that we face at a given time, and underestimate the possibility of finding som

This is extremely heartening. I think we always over-estimate the level of threat that we face at a given time, and underestimate the possibility of finding some sort of a solution. But on the other hand, not needing enormous quantities of rare earths means that human expansion into space no longer gets a kickstart from attempts to mine the asteroid belt... :)