Chunnel as metaphor (was Bootstrapping Hawaii)

>
> > All of your examples aptly demonstrated my point. They were all
> > interlinked to a greater economy.
>
> Eventually...

No, initially. They weren't created in isolation. They used steel
from mills, which got its ore from mining concerns. They got the
rubber for the tires from rubber farms. The bicycle tinkerers didn't
scoop up dirt with their hands conjure up a fire, melt iron out of
the dirt, palant their rubber trees and harvest the rubber . . .
they were part of a larger economy.

>
> > Bicycles and airplanes served
> > functions within the whole rather than acting as the whole.
>
> Not initially. They were rich people's play things. Penny
farthings were
> probably the olden time equivalent of the Segway.

Nobody said, "hey there's an empty continent over there. Won't it be
a great idea to go there so we can build bicycles and airplanes. All
we need to do is mine for ore, refine it, get rubber, build engines,
build glassworks for the cockpits, drill for oil so we can lubricate
parts. We can be the whole economy. That'll be so 23 skidoo."

Bicycles and airplane manufacturers acted as consumers of industrial
supplies and fashioned them into products that they could sell. I'll
repeat myself "Bicycles and airplanes served functions within the
whole rather than acting as the whole."

It's always like that.
> People come up with something, and everyone goes: "it's cool- but
what's
> it really for?" Computers, lasers, bicycles, aeroplanes, cars, the
> internet; just about every modern invention. The popularity comes
later.

I don't dispute this analysis.

>
> You're just doing exactly the same thing with space tourism.

Yes, but it doesn't help the venture that follows it and needs to be
in space. It doesn't consume any space resources. It doesn't need
space infrastructure. It can exist just as a prolonged ride in a
spaceship. A ship in the desert, isolated from all around it. It'll
be a novelty, that's for sure. Someone will be making money with it.
People will be enthralled. It'll help bootstrap the next venture -
no, this last statement is far, far weaker than the others I just
pointed out.

TangoMan