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Comment by deadbabe | Hacker News Reader

Are those resources more valuable just sitting at the bottom of a deep sea?

The Statue of Liberty is just sitting there too - it would be far more valuable recycling all that copper and putting it to use. Could there perhaps be another reason we haven't melted it down yet?

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

It's remarkable how people forget how we all got here.

Don't forget about the people who were already here, too

> The Statue of Liberty is just sitting there too - it would be far more valuable recycling all that copper and putting it to use.

The US makes a several orders of magnitude more money from the Statue of Liberty where it is than they would get from its scrap value.

https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/fees.htm

The same math could probably be done for sustainable stewardship of our oceans, just with more steps.

> same math could probably be done for sustainable stewardship of our oceans, just with more steps

Could it? We can measure the cash flow the Statue of Liberty produces relative to its commodity value. A pristine deep sea certainly has value. But it's difficult to argue that every square inch of it is more valuable than the commodities on and below it. Particularly when you start trading off extraction there against terrestrial mining.

How fish were fished from place X 40 years ago. How much now.

Make the difference.

Seems highly unlikely, tourism economic value must exceed the scrap value of the copper...

>> another reason we haven't melted it down yet?

Because it was gift. It was supported in the US locally by donations, but it was conceived and built in France as a gift to a younger nation.

My first reaction is: No

But if you rephrase it as "Are those resources more valuable just sitting at the bottom of a deep sea instead of mixing them into our bodies and environment?" my reaction is now: Yes

But then, also: "And what if the (human) environment is damaged / contaminated less by deep undersea extraction vs land-based mines"? and also: "What if an abundance of these materials enables vastly cheaper energy storage batteries, making solar / wind energy overnight storage practical, reducing our reliance on cheap fossil fuel energy generation"?

To be clear, I'm not sure if either of those hypotheticals are true, but I have a feeling, as with many things in life is "It's complicated".

Being good stewards of our resources with careful management / regulation is the answer, rather than unfettered exploitation or outright bans.

Those bottom are brittle ecosystem that thrive in silence and total darkness.

It would be nice to document and observe first, rather than barging in to get the riches as fast as possible once again. ( riche in that point being « nodules » it’s a fun resource ! )

Extracting these resources means destroying the ecosystems that live on top of them.

So, yes, they are better left to their own devices.

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