Jeff Bezos: we must leave the planet and send people to live on the Moon | Hacker News Reader

Jeff Bezos: we must leave the planet and send people to live on the Moon

independent.co.uk

4 pointspmoriarty9 comments

Any sort of non-toy moon colony is simply a toy for (super) rich

It is probably cheaper and safer to repopulate 100K back to Chernobyl/Fukushima than it will ever be to put 1000 on the moon.

It is cheaper to encourage systematic recycling (including subsidies, research, regulation and tax) than it is to mine anything in space.

It is cheaper and more effective to start an extinction level protection program here on earth (to save say 100K people) than it will ever be to build a true independent space colony.

Sure - it has scientific value and its progress, and its a stepping stone to Mars, etc.

But economically this is the equivalent of buying a Ferrari while you still have student debt.

Getting heavy industry off the earth soon may be a matter of survival. Not to mention the best extinction protection program we could reasonably hope for that might save other species as well.

I agree that we should take far better care of our cradle: but by now there's a mountain of evidence that we won't.

Do you think colonizing North America was a complete boondoogle?

Ben Franklin's reply is best, since he got the same kinds of criticism for spending money exploring the phenomenon of electricity: "Of what use is a new-born babe?"

If you're going to put workers in space its far more economical to put robots on the moon than humans. A fully automated space operation could be run without turning human lives into total hell. The mars robots are even able to self-repair to a degree. Humans living on the moon would be the worst job ever, but robots don't get cancer they don't need breaks or recreation areas or domed cities.

We'll get there, but they're still having to do spacewalks from the ISS; despite having some robot help there.

Leaving the planet is meaningless if you still must rely on Earth for support. The moon is not going to be self-sustaining in any feasible future we might live to see. We’re stuck on Earth for now, let’s try to deal with it. Besides, if we can’t survive the fertile planet of our species’ birth what kind of lunatic arrogance makes us think we’ll survive a lifeless, airless rock?

Bit better story IMHO: https://nypost.com/2018/05/28/jeff-bezos-planning-for-moon-c...

The moon: the ultimate company town, where all the workers are completely dependent on the corporation.

Space reality shows are the future!

>implying humans have ever been to the moon

This will never happen, at least using conventional technology. It's just a fantasy to placate the masses. After another decade or so of CGI videos, they will just say that Kessler syndrome has made spaceflight impossible, or they will create virtual reality simulation environments to fool people into thinking they are traveling in space, when they are really in an underground military base somewhere.

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