Getting paid in space

Dear spacers,

I'm the person that asked the orginal question, for the purpose of
my short story set on the first space colony, and assisted by the
extremely erudite answers, have decided thus: to go with a currency
(as yet nameless unless I can't think of anything better than luna-
tics, although that could be a cute nickname much in use in bars,
etc.), one tied to the dollar, and not a digital debit system.

I think there might be reasons why a totally digital debit system
will not work well. For one thing, it will be as fast as email,
right? Not too fast as we go further and further into space. And you
would have to get each purchase authorized, just as now, would you
not? This could be too slow, and the reason they call it currency is
because the speed with which it flows is a help or a hindrance to an
economy, and is actually measured in velocity, not to mention the
convenience of the buyer.

Another reason I think there might always be "cash money" is sinful
human nature. There probably will always be things that we would
rather pay cash for. I'd even bet if there were a totally digital
official system, the populace would adopt an unofficial cash token
for purchases they'd rather not have detailed and available in the
public domain. (St. Augustine entertained the notion of a kind of
legalization of prostitution for that reason, and I myself, no
saint, think drugs should be legalized now, for the same reason.)

Hey, that short story, called "When Will We Fall Down?" is virtually
finished. The title is the question a terrified little boy asks his
adored big sister as they gaze out the observation window of the
first space colony, while she privately considers whether to help an
anti-terrorist terrorist group enter the colony to combat a
terrorist group already en route to blow it up and stop the pending
flow of energy that will change the balance of power on Earth. Her
answer to her little brother depends on the answer she gives a guy
she has fallen for, a good Catholic boy who has proposed that she
marry him and go in the first Ark to Alpha Centauri and have Real
Sex. If you would like to read it (and check my facts!!), email me
privately.

I'd like to thank all the kind folk on this list who have always
answered my dumb questions. You sure are good sports. I especially
enjoyed the Jefferson Airplane thread. Since I am now hatching a
sequel to the first story, I know I'll have to count on you again.
But I hope I never distract you from your purpose, rather well
summarized in the post before this one in this thread. You have a
lot of work to do, spacers!

Jan Baker

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Brad Walsh"
>
> I hated to see this question get lost in the alternating currency
argument
> (pun intended).
>
> By all means let's talk about steps. Here are few questions for
discussion:
>
> 1) Once the ISS is completed, what are the chances a private
group could
> rent space to house workers who are building a privately-owned hab?
> 2) What role would the inflatable Bigelow habs play? What would
it take to
> make them serve as units for a toroid-structure? How many would
be required
> for a structure large enough for a tolerable 1/2 G spin?
> 3) Miniaturization reduces weight reduces cost-to-orbit. How
much
> mining/construction can be accomplished by miniature robotic
craft? Is
> anyone working on this?
> 4) Has the administration or NASA made any specific proposals for
using the
> moon for mining or a base? What is available on the moon and how
might it
> be extracted?
> 5) How much do we know about the chemical composition of near-
earth objects
> which might be used for materials? Sure a lot of them are iron-
nickel, but
> how much water and frozen gasses can be obtained there?
> 6) I understand that the technology isn't there yet for large-
scale solar
> power satellites. What is still missing to make these a reality?
>
> We've hashed through some of these, but maybe by revisiting them
we can find
> out what has changed in the past couple of years.
>
> > > On a final note, I haven't paid much attention to all the
> > > discussions lately. Is this group just discussing ideas for
future
> > > creation of space stations, or is there some type of team
gathering
> > > information and constructing business plans, gathering funders
and
> > > luring in supporters? We are still 15-20 years off from having
a
> > > privately owned space station, and if you guys aren't working
> > > closer to the goal, who will?
> >
> >Ryan,
> >
> >Yeah, most of the discussions here seem to be about how we're
going
> >to run a settlement 100 years from now. Occasionally someone will
> >discuss more short term problems like launch, or asteroid
retrieval.
> >
> >What are the primary reasons we haven't built a space settlement
yet?
> >I think an obvious answer is the cost of Earth launch, but are
there
> >others? Perhaps we could come up with a laundry list of problems
we
> >need to solve before O'Neill's 30 year old designs become a
reality.
> >Obviously he underestimated some of the problems since he felt we
> >would be there by now. Underestimation of the problems seems to be
> >rampant in the space industry. Once we are there, will we really
be
> >able to establish an economy that will make business and workers
> >come, or will space settlements only be filled will rich sci-fi
nuts