New Book on Space Colonies

> So if the US is in the midst of some transformation, what does the
> future hold? Will the US just because primas inter paras? Will the
> US stand still while other nations catch up? What will replace the
> information economy?
>
> I believe that the US is uniquely suited amongst the nations of the
> world to make the leap to a space economy because it can marshall
> immense resources and channel the activities of the private sector.

My point of view is that of the "engineer who thinks that Economy is a form of
witchcraft", and so one should not pay much attention to my opinion on this
subject :-), but my perception is that the US economy is mesmerized by tech
dreams from time to time. First there were Internet companies, then biotech
companies, and so on.

I would much like to see space as the next tech mesmerizer, but unfortunately
that does not appear to be the case; my perception is that there is already a
dominant meme saying in a Mantra-like tone that "Nanotech is the Next Wave".
A couple of weeks ago I talked with a guy that likes to surf those tech waves
(by selling techie services to American companies) and he was already
mesmerized talking about how the nanotech wave could be profitably surfed.
Then I said that one should consider the possibility that nanotech is a
failed dream and that its upcoming bubble will quickly burst or even never
come to existence; and that one should try to see two bubbles ahead; and that
the post-Nanotech bubble could be space. And then he looked at me with that
look of "Forgive him, for he does not know what he says" :-).

Lucio