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On one hand, this is a momentous day for private space flight. On the other, we're closer to Moon lobbyists than ever.
by zecho 14y ago
On one hand, this is a momentous day for private space flight. On the other, we're closer to Moon lobbyists than ever.
- vecinu 14y agoPrivatizing area on the Moon is quite frightening to think about. I wonder if one day copyright law will also reach other planets and moons.
- cglace 14y agoI disagree. Privatizing the moon has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I like to think of it as Galt's Gulch in space.
- philwelch 14y ago...because there's no better place for a group of self-sufficient Randian heroes to live in complete isolation from the rest of the world than a barren rock in space that would have to import nearly everything from the earth?
- jlgreco 14y agoWhat's wrong with imports?
- unimpressive 14y agoWell, earth then has the power to dictate terms to the moon-colonists. Such a situation is not favorable for the sort of thing the grandparent post had in mind.
- jlgreco 14y agoHowever when we are talking about a reality in which there are multiple independent and competing launch entities, the idea of "the earth" as a single entity capable of deciding not to service colonists makes much less sense.
- philwelch 14y agoThe whole point of Galt's Gulch is that the world is corrupt and evil and the Randian heroes have to establish a self-sufficient colony where they can support themselves, and stay there until the evil altruistic world collapses under its own weight. That's rather opposed to the concept of having to import everything.
- thu 14y agoWith asteroid mining companies, someone will have to decide which companies can get at which asteroids.
- jpendry 14y agothat's easy: whichever company can shoot down all other companies ships, and still manage to land and mine said asteroids, wins. the name of this game? "king of the asteroid"
- vecinu 14y ago"Game of Asteroids". I know we like to bring elements from the video game EVE into our reality but that is very implausible.
- camiller 14y agoIt'll be like the gold rush, stake a claim, file it with the regulating agency, shoot anyone that trespasses.
- run4yourlives 14y agoPossession is 9/10ths of the law. The other tenth is having the biggest fuck off guns to destroy all contenders.
- joshu 14y agoOn one hand, I believe that violence is bad. On another, OMG SPACE GUNS YAY!
- jerf 14y agoWhere humans go, human concerns will follow. The sole, singular, and only alternative is for humans not to go. (And for those inclined to take that as their cue to strike the fashionable misanthropic pose where they claim that would be a good thing, remember: The moon is a dead, sterile rock. The Moon has no copyright law because there is no creative activity of any kind there taking place that could be copyrighted. There is nothing there to abuse, no "environment" to foul, no natives to exploit, nothing, not even bacteria. The alternative to humans going there is death, forever. And not "human" death, either, but total death. No life. Deader than the worst possible nuclear holocaust could ever make Earth. If that is truly your position, fine, but I hope I can at least remove the fashionableness from your pose.)
- DanI-S 14y ago> There is nothing there to abuse, no "environment" to foul, no natives to exploit, nothing, not even bacteria. I agree with the sentiment of your post, but this is incorrect. The Moon is a uniquely pristine environment that holds irreplaceable evidence regarding the formation of both our and other solar systems. It may even contain bacteria, trapped long-dead within meteorites, that could tell us more about the development of life on Earth or elsewhere. It is of huge importance that we are able to extract as much of this information as possible before we start tearing it up.
- jerf 14y agoThere is a planet full of it. An entire planet. If we made a conscious effort to deliberately go forth and destroy all evidence, it would take us millennia... with generous technological assumptions. Also an entire solar system and indeed an entire universe full of further such stuff. Space is big. This is a terrible argument.
- DanI-S 14y agoHow could we possibly eat all these pigeons? There are flocks, 300 miles long, that turn the sky dark. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon
- snth 14y agoIs there no Hacker News story that can pass without reference to copyright?
- javert 14y agoPrivatizing area on the moon would be a great way to fuel colonization there.
- ConstantineXVI 14y agoIf we had moon lobbyists, at least NASA would get better funding. I'd take moon lobbying over coal/oil/defense/farming/etc. any day.
- CWuestefeld 14y agoI think part of the problem is that we're willing to accept bad behavior when it's done on behalf of the team we agree with. If something is bad, then it's bad even when it's done by your team. The end does not justify the means.
- rmassie 14y agoCan anyone tell me why lobbying is inherently bad?
- Alex3917 14y agoIt's not. If not for lobbyists we'd have no bill of rights, we'd all still be driving cars that exploded whenever they got rear ended, our rivers would still catch fire on a regular basis, etc.
- leot 14y agoThat all sounds like lobbying from non-corporate entities.
- CWuestefeld 14y agoFalse. Those were corporation. Perhaps you didn't realize that Sierra Club, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, etc. are corporations? Corporations are not just businesses. They are the way that people with a common interest can pool their resources to coordinate on a common goal.
- leot 14y ago