Why would we ever want to stop growing our economy and accomodating ever more people? We have always expanded and organized matter into valuable forms, why would we forever settle for the matter and energy available to us on Earth? We can create so much value with even just the matter inside the Moon or Mercury, let alone Jupiter or the Sun. Why would we pass up on it?
Bridges might not be the most valuable thing you can build with your resources right now, but that’s different than just letting the resources go unused
That would be a valid argument if we would be good at building other things like new houses and tunnels. Unfortunately, we have cost-disease and aren’t building much in the west.
True, but what I’m arguing against here is the point of the post:
there may not be good economic reasons to go to space; therefore space colonisation would be driven by non-economic reasons
I’m arguing that there are good economic reasons to go to space. (There are also good economic reasons to build things that we’re not building here on Earth, but that’s tangential to the discussion.)
Economic reasons to go to space are reasons that are about space ventures resulting in more value on earth.
If you mine things in space it might help you to build more stuff on earth if the materials would be a constraint. It doesn’t help you if the materials are no meaningful constraint on building on earth.
The difference between economic reasons and altruistic reasons is that economic reasons are about people participating in the economic exchange gaining value.
That means people on earth that expand resources that go into space need to get value in return.
Yes, but a person on Earth can create value in space that they obtain by moving into space. An example would be low gravity retirement communities paid for by the retirees.
Why would we ever want to stop growing our economy and accomodating ever more people? We have always expanded and organized matter into valuable forms, why would we forever settle for the matter and energy available to us on Earth? We can create so much value with even just the matter inside the Moon or Mercury, let alone Jupiter or the Sun. Why would we pass up on it?
Because the value, in GDP terms, is currently very low compared with the costs.
Why doesn’t NYC build bridges anymore as they did when Robert Moses was around? Why are they passing up on it?
Bridges might not be the most valuable thing you can build with your resources right now, but that’s different than just letting the resources go unused
That would be a valid argument if we would be good at building other things like new houses and tunnels. Unfortunately, we have cost-disease and aren’t building much in the west.
True, but what I’m arguing against here is the point of the post:
I’m arguing that there are good economic reasons to go to space. (There are also good economic reasons to build things that we’re not building here on Earth, but that’s tangential to the discussion.)
Economic reasons to go to space are reasons that are about space ventures resulting in more value on earth.
If you mine things in space it might help you to build more stuff on earth if the materials would be a constraint. It doesn’t help you if the materials are no meaningful constraint on building on earth.
I don’t think it has to be value on Earth; economic reasons to go to space can also mean creating value in space.
The difference between economic reasons and altruistic reasons is that economic reasons are about people participating in the economic exchange gaining value.
That means people on earth that expand resources that go into space need to get value in return.
Yes, but a person on Earth can create value in space that they obtain by moving into space. An example would be low gravity retirement communities paid for by the retirees.