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Comment by beaker52 | Hacker News Reader

Space will not be ours. The earth is not ours. The portion of earth that you and your neighbours inhabit is not yours, nor mine nor my neighbours. Your possessions are not yours. They are simply in your presence for a brief period of time and you cling to them, believing they are forever yours.

The illusion of ownership is a facet of much suffering of, and is caused by humans (and other sentient beings, for we are all animals) under the idea that they own things, collectively or individually. How can things external of a being be owned by it, when the being, as well as that it considers itself to own, are transient, impermanent and microscopic in the long game? Especially when we consider that this illusion causes suffering to ourselves (through loss) and others (through the opportunity to grasp that which is denied).

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It depends on how you define ownership. In the context of the linked article the concept of "ours" is obviously defined as our ability to exploit space, to colonise it and expand our influence into it.

We're not talking about sitting at home wringing our hands with misplaced glee over our new found shiny possession, we're talking about physically making this new frontier work for us as a new medium that we're able to use and inhabit. Your Buddhist philosophy while possibly relevant to our personal lives has been misapplied here. This is industry, this is commerce, this is the business of expansion and survival.

"Ours" - Used to refer to a thing or things belonging to or associated with the speaker and one or more other people previously mentioned.

I do hope we are guests to what we call space as well as other planets. Exploitation should certainly not be to the detriment of others.

I'm alarmed that your statement about industry, commerce and business, as if to make it OK to do whatever necessary using these devices, despite the suffering they cause, because it's about survival. If the reason for space exploration is about survival, it shouldn't be an industry or commercial. It should be philanthropy.

I'm sure Apple are making iPads to put the technology at the fingertips of everyone right? If that were the case, they'd give them away.

I see the connection you made between Buddhist teachings and my post. I like this. But I don't believe the essance of my post was in any way limited in relevance to 'personal' lives. What kind of life isn't personal?

There's a distinction between ownership of (or attachment to) physical items, dogmatic belief, relationships, whatever vs. opening up new frontiers within which we can conduct commerce and expand into. One is to do with our personal mental states, the other is to do with the very real physicality of our situation as a species. They seem two quite different notions to me.

Very well put. And to complement your point, when we eventually meet extra-terrestrials who also subscribe to the illusion that space can be owned, and that it is theirs, we will have come full circle. Might will likely be the determinant of the outcome, and at that point I suppose we'll all have to root for humanity. Sadly, the battle of the species and of domination will continue as it always has.

Very well written Sir.

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