On the PBS show "Nova" tonight...

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "ANTIcarrot"

>
> > From: DOUG MAY
> > What other ideas do we have for early industries that are
> > reasonably affordable and can be used to create an economy in
> > space?
>
Dear ANTIcarrot,

Good ideas all. It seems to me that we're in somewhat the same
position as the deamers about air flight were in 1903. At that time I
expect most people thought flying in an airplane was a kind of weird
hobby for rich folks and eccentrics (like the Wright brothers). I
suspect most people, seeing the flimsy airplanes being built and
proposed (with their enemic motors)wondered what practical use these
flying things would ever be. More importantly, I'm sure only a
handful of people in the world at that time imagined that airplanes
could form the basis for any sort of meaningful business enterprise.

I truly believe that my grandchildren - or perhaps their
grandchildren - will live to see spaceports, that they'll go into
space on business trips routinely and take vacations in space. I
believe there will space, lunar, and Mars colonies engaged in
commerce the likes of which we cannot even imagine, because the
things they will be buying and selling haven't even been thought
about yet. I think we're like a 1903 midwest farmer trying to imagine
300 people flying at 450 MPH from New York to London talking on their
cell phones and surfing the internet on their laptop computers.

The thing tht worries me about this scenario is that most of the
miraculous technology we enjoy today is largely the product (directly
or indirectly) of two world wars and a decades long cold war. Human
conflict (or the threat of conflict) has a way of accelerating
technological progress. I hope our future generations don't have to
justify the the tremendous cost of developing space technologies by
arguing that the investment is the only way we can ensure our ability
to more efficiently devastate our enemies (whoever they may be at the
time).

Chris