Why am I Leery of Private Enterprise in Space?
11-17-2019, 12:58 AM (This post was last modified: 11-17-2019, 12:59 AM by Black Aeronaut.)
11-17-2019, 12:58 AM (This post was last modified: 11-17-2019, 12:59 AM by Black Aeronaut.)
But BA! Private Enterprise will make space colonies happen!
.......
Watch this video first. The whole thing. And I promise this will make sense.
This was recent.
VERY recent.
Barely more than one year yet recent.
Not ten years ago.
Not fifty years ago.
Not a hundred years ago.
And you would think that after all this time we've been drilling for oil, there would be safety standards at the Federal level that drilling companies must adhere to.
But no. There aren't. It's fucking Wild Wild West out there.
This is where it becomes relevant.
Right now? There is no regulation beyond Earth's atmosphere. No countries, no laws, no nothing. Elon Musk can probably send an automated Helium-3 collection plant to the moon so he can sell it here on Earth and no one would be able to do shit about it. (They'd try, but he can weasel out of it somehow.)
The thing is, anytime there is no government oversight or regulations, that is when corporate enterprise will assign a price tag to human lives.
Can you imagine the kind of shit people would pull in order to make a quick buck while going after Helium-3 or other valuable materials? It'd be Mr. Peabody's coal mines all over again.
Meanwhile, people like Elon Musk will be more than happy to build their walled gardens in the L-Points and on the moon, and all of it built off of this industry. Welcome to the modern "Gilded Age".
"But that can't possibly happen!"
Oh?
People said the same thing about the events in Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor. Some years later, the September 11th Terrorist Attacks happened.
People said that the events in Phillip Roth's novel, The Plot Against America, couldn't possibly occur. And yet, we now have Donald Trump; a sitting US President that panders to white supremacists, marginalizes minorities, and seeks to ingratiate himself to our enemies.
Dare we say that the events that led to the scenario in the film Elysium can't possibly happen?
Am I being too paranoid?
I hope I am.
But unfortunately, the evidence suggests otherwise.
.......
Watch this video first. The whole thing. And I promise this will make sense.
This was recent.
VERY recent.
Barely more than one year yet recent.
Not ten years ago.
Not fifty years ago.
Not a hundred years ago.
And you would think that after all this time we've been drilling for oil, there would be safety standards at the Federal level that drilling companies must adhere to.
But no. There aren't. It's fucking Wild Wild West out there.
This is where it becomes relevant.
Right now? There is no regulation beyond Earth's atmosphere. No countries, no laws, no nothing. Elon Musk can probably send an automated Helium-3 collection plant to the moon so he can sell it here on Earth and no one would be able to do shit about it. (They'd try, but he can weasel out of it somehow.)
The thing is, anytime there is no government oversight or regulations, that is when corporate enterprise will assign a price tag to human lives.
Can you imagine the kind of shit people would pull in order to make a quick buck while going after Helium-3 or other valuable materials? It'd be Mr. Peabody's coal mines all over again.
Meanwhile, people like Elon Musk will be more than happy to build their walled gardens in the L-Points and on the moon, and all of it built off of this industry. Welcome to the modern "Gilded Age".
"But that can't possibly happen!"
Oh?
People said the same thing about the events in Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor. Some years later, the September 11th Terrorist Attacks happened.
People said that the events in Phillip Roth's novel, The Plot Against America, couldn't possibly occur. And yet, we now have Donald Trump; a sitting US President that panders to white supremacists, marginalizes minorities, and seeks to ingratiate himself to our enemies.
Dare we say that the events that led to the scenario in the film Elysium can't possibly happen?
Am I being too paranoid?
I hope I am.
But unfortunately, the evidence suggests otherwise.
