The West must conquer space first or it will be at the mercy of Chinese domination!

[CmdrShep2154]

Dire message?


Or is this just fear mongering for the military industrial complex?

If the asteroids are full of resources then whoever develops the technology to extract those resources will not only have military supremacy here on Earth but will hold the key to humanity's future and continued survival.

[s_bushido]

Or is this just fear mongering for the military industrial complex?

Steve Kwast is the CEO of “Kwast Enterprise” a company dedicated to the moral leadership of America into the space economy of the 21st Century.



Gee, I wonder...

[callipygoustp]

Given the trend in the US over the past.... lets call it at least two decades... does anyone really think the US has a chance against China?

[Mihalik]

1. Space has a lot of space, as the name suggests.
2. First doesn't mean there can't be a second.
3. You can't actually claim anything in space that you haven't put there in the first place as "yours".

Commercial resource exploitation in space is at least a century away from economic viability. Twice or 3 times recycling every single piece of waste is a few hundred times more economically viable than bringing back anything from space.

As a geologist I can tell you that the conditions under which commercial resource mining in space would become economically viable are at least a century away. Even when it will become viable, it will only do so for a handful of resources that are in short supply on Earth, resources that we currently don't actually have significant applications for, but we might have in the future.

Even for future colonization efforts, it will take a really really long ass time before anything but water/fuel extraction would become worthwhile.

The issue with raw materials extracted in space, is that iron ore/zinc etc are useless without the industrial base needed to process the ore and then actually turn it into a piece of equipment like a valve or a handle.

The first thing we will likely mine in space is water ice. As it can be turned into water, oxygen and fuel with minimal local processing.

[Omega10]

Steve Kwast is the CEO of “Kwast Enterprise” a company dedicated to the moral leadership of America into the space economy of the 21st Century.



Gee, I wonder...

Sounds like a commercial to get billions of government money diverted to him and his company to me.

[PC2]

Given the trend in the US over the past.... lets call it at least two decades... does anyone really think the US has a chance against China?

You should think about the future in terms of reasons/explanations and never based on the past.

Dire message?
[video=youtube;KsPLmb6gAdw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsPLmb6gAdw[video]

Or is this just fear mongering for the military industrial complex?

If the asteroids are full of resources then whoever develops the technology to extract those resources will not only have military supremacy here on Earth but will hold the key to humanity's future and continued survival.

Asteroids aren't a fundamental requirement for human survival but it will be a huge bonus if we can increase the supply of useful resources.

It doesn't matter who profits from asteroids because we should only care about total wealth creation and the absolute wealth of humanity. Relative wealth doesn't matter and caring about that is nothing more than tribal jealousy.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Sounds like they're trying to come up with reasons for why they'll need to wage war against China.

[Kaleredar]

OP, if this is going to be your new hit-and-run thread posting style, I’d advise you to go back to posting your speculative fiction projects you’re never going to write.


As far as the space race... the us kind of already won that 50 years ago.

But it’s not like we’re going to see the OP again in this thread, so might as well close her up.

[Kasierith]

If it takes neoliberals getting their feelings hurt to push for scientific innovations allowing for broader ventures into space, I'll take it.

[PC2]

Sounds like they're trying to come up with reasons for why they'll need to wage war against China.

Maybe yeah, politically we do need to oppose China until they adopt liberal democratic values but the idea that we should stop them from making technological advancements and enriching their people is anti-progress. I think the West will beat them to space but the way to do that is by innovating faster and not through the use of military force.

[callipygoustp]

You should think about the future in terms of reasons/explanations and never based on the past.

If I was an idiot, maybe that's what I would do: Ignore the trends.

Edit:
Emperor, that is most certainly a fine set of new threads.

[Nihilist74]

Space Force to the rescue!

[Tuor]

1. Space has a lot of space, as the name suggests.

True.

2. First doesn't mean there can't be a second.

Even more true, just look at my country, we discovered the sea route that conects Europe to Asia (through the Cape of good Hope), 100 years later, the UK, The Netherlands, France had already ninjaed that route.

3. You can't actually claim anything in space that you haven't put there in the first place as "yours".

The same principle aplies to Antarctida.

[PC2]

If I was an idiot, maybe that's what I would do: Ignore the trends.

No, the most idiotic thing you could do is justify a claim about the future of society based on past trends instead of basing it on reason. A justification for a prediction must address causation and/or answer the 'how' and 'why' questions .

[Jester Joe]

While there's merit to discussing space and any advancements towards exploring it, using it to specifically aim at another nation in such a manner isn't going to lead to constructive discussions about space itself.

Closing this here.