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The future can't come fast enough. Resource extraction being off-world would be a huge boon environmentally and I can't think of a better use of resources to he
by DangerChips 7y ago
The future can't come fast enough. Resource extraction being off-world would be a huge boon environmentally and I can't think of a better use of resources to help preserve our species.
- cutler 7y agoWhat exactly is this resource extraction you're referring to?
- arthurcolle 7y agoAsteroid mining most likely
- aylmao 7y agoI'm less worried about resource extraction, and more worried about pollution. Sure, mining pollutes and we have a limited number of minerals in the world. The bigger problem IMO is the destruction of the biosphere. Trees are being cut faster than they are planted, fish are being fished faster that they can reproduce, etc. There's no biosphere on asteroids. Moreover, would finding another source for resources reduce the incentive to preserve the ones we have locally? For example, in the future, if plastics become scarce, plastic products will become more expensive and people will consume less of them. Let's suppose we learn how to synthesize plastics from compounds found in asteroids. It would be business as usual, and the insane amount of pollution in landfills and oceans would only keep growing, would it not?
- cableshaft 7y ago>Trees are being cut faster than they are planted This part doesn't seem to be true anymore, thanks primarily to India and China (this popped up on Hacker News a couple of weeks ago, I think): https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/human-activity-in-china-and-india-dominates-the-greening-of-earth-nasa-study-shows https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/human-activity-in-china-an...
- aylmao 7y agoAmazing news! Thanks for sharing.