Noah's Ark on the Moon

To discuss this point just a bit further, I once heard a fellow make an
excellent argument to the effect that we space settlement advocates,
when attempting to win others over to our cause, should be cautious
about using the old argument, "We'd better have backup copies of human
civilization elsewhere in case some big asteroid comes along and wipes
out everything here on Earth". He points out that there are two
possibilities: the space settlers are economically independent, or they
are not. If not, and if disaster strikes the Earth, then the space
settlers will perish only shortly thereafter, when re-supply from Earth
ceases. If the space settlers are economically independent, then we
don't need any other motivation to settle space; obviously there were
exploitable economic opportunities beyond the Earth, and we don't need
any justification for space settlements beyond that.

So the "backup" argument, if it must be made, should only be presented
as an incidental benefit, not as the primary justification for settling
space in the first place.

Regards,

Mike Combs

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Combs, Mike