Should The Solar System Be Off Limits To Space Mining Efforts?
It is said that everything comes at a price and that can't be truer in the context of human progress over the course of past centuries. Yes, we have quite literally achieved sci-fi levels of progress and we are positioned to do even more unimaginable things in the future.
All that has come at a cost though and will continue to come at a cost, which is the planet's resources. All our endeavours are being fueled by a gargantuan amount of resources that is available on our planet.
But no matter how large a pool, it can always dry over time, if we continue to deplete it and the same will be true of Earth's resources. So, to fuel the next centuries of development, there is only one way to go. Space.
Space truly is the final frontier. It has an almost infinite seeming amount of resources that we can use for thousands of years to come. But some scientists think otherwise and a group of them have proposed that more than 85 percent of the solar system should be protected, so as to limit human exploitation.
Is It Really Necessary?
Let me give you a context. There is an asteroid called '433 Eros' and it is estimated to contain more gold than we have ever mined in our history. And that is just one rock in space. The current known asteroid count according to NASA is 795,064 and it is estimated that there are millions of them in the Solar system.
Plus, we have whole planets which contain even more resources on them that can potentially be used and colonised. So, all in all, I think it is safe to say that we are good for at least thousands of years to come, since we are only now getting started with space.
But according to what scientists estimate, we could have a shortage on our hands within the next 400 years. That doesn't make sense to me, considering just how much is out there.
Even if that were remotely true, I think they are ignoring the technological progress we will make within that time frame that could allow us to go even beyond our solar system and into other stellar systems. If that becomes possible, even larger pools of resources will be at our disposle.
If you think about it, it is kind of a race between our exponential technological progress and our need for resources to fuel that progress and it is only a question of what happens faster and I lean towards the former.
The idea that 85% of the solar system should be off limits is absurd and once private space exploration becomes a viability, I sincerely doubt anyone will be able to enforce such an idea, let alone convince the majority of people it's a reasonable constraint. People need colonize and do it everywhere we possibly can, as fast as we can and as far as we can if we want to survive as a species and maintain a high degree of freedom and prosperity. Besides, where am I going to be able to test my pocket nukes besides space?!
I totally agree. Space doesn't belong to any single entity to be able to enforce rules or laws upon. That is the beauty of it. It is an open field and there is a lot of it. I mean insanely a lot!
SJWs IN SPACE!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, we keep shrinking the launch window for spacecraft because of all the crap we are leaving in orbit around our own planet. Yet we worry about exploiting (mining) in the asteroid belt 100 million miles away instead? GTFO! Insane.
LOL at SJWs in space
Yeah!! There are many problems to solve before we can exploit resources out there. Solving space junk will be the number 1 priority if we are to make space a regular thing.
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.
Thanks!
You got a 32.72% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @sauravrungta! :)
@ocdb is a non-profit bidbot for whitelisted Steemians, current max bid is 20 SBD and the equivalent amount in STEEM.
Check our website https://thegoodwhales.io/ for the whitelist, queue and delegation info. Join our Discord channel for more information.
If you like what @ocd does, consider voting for ocd-witness through SteemConnect or on the Steemit Witnesses page. :)