Billionaire closer to mining the moon for trillions of dollars in riches

[hunter]

28. The moon is a damned boring place mineralogically.

The most interesting mineral deposits on earth are a direct consequence of continental drift, water, and life. The moon has none of these.

There are possibly places on the moon where interesting space rocks have hit, but if that's the case then nearly anyplace in the inner solar system is more accessible than the moon. It's a lot easier to grab a rock floating in space than it is to dig one up and launch it out of the moon's gravity well.

But honestly, the whole thing is silly and probably a scam. Space is a much rougher environment for human beings than science fiction portrays. The International Space Station is in a fairly mild place, protected from the worst radiation by earth's magnetic field, and accessible by chemical rockets.

I'll bet humans like ourselves will never colonize space, even if we do manage to survive the environmental catastrophe we've created.

If we survive (and it's a big if...) Outer space will belong to our intellectual children, either Artificial Intelligences or highly engineered biological beings who can walk around naked in rough places like the surface of Mars. If our intellectual children are fond of us, these fragile human beings, then maybe they'll take us along for the ride. We'll be like the dog in their car.

One further bit of pessimism for some, optimism for others, faster-than-light travel is impossible. There's only one speed in this universe, and that's c. We are all written on the light.