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Re: starship-design: Infrastructure in space [was: FTL travel...]
> From owner-starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu Wed Apr 26 07:44:05 2000
> From: KellySt@aol.com
>
> >[...]
> >> Unless you are productive, you are a pet.
> >>
> >At the start, of course. Hence, until they became sufficiently
> >independent (which they will strive to, once established...),
> >you have two possibilities:
> >- to be profitable to Earth;
> >- to entertain it so that it is not bored...
> >Ehem, so we found additional factor besides profitability -
> >thanks, Kelly...
>
> Entertainment? ;)
>
> Even now most countries economy is heavily dependant on trade.
> Usually they dominate in producing certain types of things
> and buy most of the rest from outside. Can't see space being less so.
>
Entertainment in a loose sense...
Making earthlubbers interested in funding something
in space not for (direct) profit but for some other reasons -
ideology, custom, fun, etc. See how many things on Earth now
are funded that way - from churches to TV networks...
[...]
> >> >> So if you can cut the launch
> >> >> costs of empty frighters enough, you can sell oil from space down
> >
> >> >> here. Global warming folks will scream though. ;)
> >> >>
> >> >One more reason to put the oil-hungry industry in space instead.
> >> >You will get an additional benefits: the industry in space
> >> >will rather use small amounts of oil to burn. That is,
> >> >unless you are ready to ship up lots of oxygen from Earth... ;-))
> >>
> >> But the oil hungry homes are down here. ;)
> >>
> >They will be in space too - but will not use it for burning...
>
> What else do you expect to be consuming all that oil?
>
Plastics. There is no other resource in space that can be used
to produce them...
-- Zenon Kulpa