From: jflint@csws5.ic.sunysb.edu (Jesse Flint)
Newsgroups: alt.society.futures
Subject: Re: Lunar colony: why?
Summary: Because we need one!
Keywords: fnord
Date: 12 Apr 92 11:17:22 GMT
Expires: Fri, 1 May 1992 04:00:00 GMT
Followup-To: this --v
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook


In article <1992Apr11.212118.2917@vax.muskingum.edu> sh_strawn@vax.muskingum.edu writes:
>
>Since i am posting, i should offer some gristle to start on.  How about this:
>i am 21; Spacelab in orbit this decade, maybe lunar mission as well; include
>about fifteen years of downtime for nasa at any rate; will there be a lunar
>colony in my lifetime?  And why do we need one?
>

You have to ask...?

>I think that a lunar colony at this point in time would be a major shopping
>spree that the world economy can not afford to go on.  The reasons seem to me
>to be purely scientific.  Though there is some thought as to the limited
>resouces and living space that earth has to offer, i think it would be wiser 
>to dedicate resources to solving problems rather than running from them.  
>
>It's too bad i'm so pragmatic on this issue, becaause space exploration is so
>exciting and heroic for us.  I guess the question is, can this type of venture
>support itself economically?  I think not, at least now.
>
>-shane s.-
>

Well! Do you want the sceintific reason, the political reason, the cultural 
reason, the economic reason, or the evolutionary reason?

SCIENTIFIC:
	Among other things, a lunar colony will allow us to research the past
history of the Earth-Moon system, possibly finding out just WHY we have such
a large moon (relative to the size of our world). The establishment of a
lunar base will also give the present high-tech defense industries something
to do so they don't eliminate their jobs (see POLITICAL).

POLITICAL:
	In the "New World", there must be an outlet for high-technology
industries APART FROM weapons manufacturing. Space colonization is this outlet.
The industries can retool for peaceful aerospace work; thus they are
preserved as employers and taxpayers (what was that about the world economy?).

CULTURAL:
	The Moon can act as a second Antarctica... a location for the various
cultures of the world to work together for whatever reason. It will also act
as a stepping stone to further colonization, space industry, possible
terraforming of Mars, and starflight. Estabilishing a Lunar colony can also
be a source of prestige for a nation, rather than its ownership of nukes.

ECONOMIC:
	Industries producing toxic waste may be placed on the Moon or in 
orbit... WITHOUT risk of pollution! 
	"Just dump it anywhere... it's lifeless already!"
Sure, there's an additional cost to transporting raw material to space and
back... but we have to ask ourselves if the ecological savings merit it.

EVOLUTIONARY:
	One day in the far future, humanity will have to leave Earth. We've
grown up here; it's getting time to think about moving out. Spreading out
will reduce the likelihood of humanity as a whole dying out from any one
disaster. Leaving Earth and preserving it as a planet-sized park enables the
healing of damage we've already done, and further evolution in a more
"natural" mode. We've also got to think about finding out where our 
neighbors might be...

Enough reasons for you? :)
					--Tog
					Environmental Technophile
					"This is what you get after
					 too many games of SimEarth..."
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Newsgroups: alt.society.futures