Pages: 1 … 36 37 38 39 40 … 129

 

2011-07-20 02:06:51
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6874|132 and Bush

Cheeky_Ninja06 wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Eros, a near earth asteroid orbiting between Mars and Earth is valued at over 20 Trillion dollars in metals (Copper, Silver, Gold, etc). If you added up all of the metals used in every single structure ever created in the history of human civilization it would only make up a small fraction of what is contained in Eros.

http://skywatcherz.com/blog/2011/07/20/ … e-of-eros/
I had to host the video clip myself..
Well it shouldnt be tooo long before we can do something with this. Nasa have already launched a mission to land on an asteroid (wont get there for 4 years mind). Europe are developing "space tugs" to possibly facilitate building (assembling) structures and or craft in space rather than launching them from earth in 1 go. There is the 500 day experiment as we are getting close enough to a manned Mars mission to start worrying about psychological stresses.

Its certainly not beyond the realms of possibility and what with private companies becoming ever more involved in space the financial incentive should justify the expenditure to make it happen.

Cant wait personally
I do recommend. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/s … 0/Overview
Fascinating episode.
Xbone Stormsurgezz
2011-07-20 03:20:55
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,816|6379|eXtreme to the maX

Spark wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Um, you guys know they're vaulable because they're rare?
We happen to need many of them in exponentially increasing amounts to fuel our progress as a civilization. Better from some dead lifeless rock in the middle of nothingness (assuming one has the capability) than from beneath temperate African rainforest, tbh.
Depends what you mean by progress. I think my mobile would be OK without a vibrate feature, I think I could be OK without a mobile.
Fuck Israel
2011-07-20 03:22:05
Spark
liquid fluoride thorium reactor
+874|6947|Canberra, AUS
Why are you posting on an internet forum then?
The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
~ Richard Feynman
2011-07-20 03:25:21
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,816|6379|eXtreme to the maX
Thats not the point, we don't need that stuff to progress, most rare earths are going into infotainment gadgets anyway.
Fuck Israel
2011-07-20 03:38:50
Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6743
i have to agree with dilbert's sentiments. the idea that technology and gadgets make our lives better and ensure 'progress' is a total myth and folly, past a certain point. gutting entire regions of africa and turning them back into wage-slavery pits of humanitarian and ecological disaster probably isn't worth it so that we can have extra-bright screens on our mobile phones. that's not 'progress'. it's excess. and we're all equally guilty of it. lets just not dress it up as some grandiose scientific quest towards that ever-elusive human advancement, though.
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
2011-07-20 03:49:48
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5631|London, England

Dilbert_X wrote:

Um, you guys know they're vaulable because they're rare?
Eh, not really. We'd see a lot more progress as a civilization if we had more RE materials for use in semiconductors and wiring. I could give a fig about gold as jewelry. If we had unlimited gold we would never have to worry about corrosion again. Stuff like that.
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
2011-07-20 03:51:44
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5631|London, England

Uzique wrote:

i have to agree with dilbert's sentiments. the idea that technology and gadgets make our lives better and ensure 'progress' is a total myth and folly, past a certain point. gutting entire regions of africa and turning them back into wage-slavery pits of humanitarian and ecological disaster probably isn't worth it so that we can have extra-bright screens on our mobile phones. that's not 'progress'. it's excess. and we're all equally guilty of it. lets just not dress it up as some grandiose scientific quest towards that ever-elusive human advancement, though.
That's nice.
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
2011-07-20 03:55:38
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6874|132 and Bush

You plan ahead. And when we're talking about the cosmological scale of space and time you plan way ahead. We live on a planet with finite resources. Searching the cosmos to build a better iPod is not the point. We all put value in different things. It's arbitrary. However one day our universal survival will depend on that desire to push the technological edge. We've got an incredible amount of energy and resources located right here within our solar neighborhood. There's no reason we shouldn't be tapping in to it.
Xbone Stormsurgezz
2011-07-20 03:56:50
Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6743
we're all suckered into it, i just think it's a false sense of progress for the most part. most of it is market stimulated and exists for the sake of turning over a short-term buck, the vast majority of minerals and rare resources being mined up are hardly going towards building new space shuttles to take men to mars. they're going on motherboards that will be thrown out in 2 years and replaced, and on iphones that have a product life-cycle of about 0.35 years.
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
2011-07-20 03:58:20
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,816|6379|eXtreme to the maX

Kmar wrote:

Searching the cosmos to build a better iPod is not the point.
Thats what will happen though, we are scouring the earth to make TVs and telephones right now.
Why do you expect it to change?
Fuck Israel
2011-07-20 03:58:32
Shocking
sorry you feel that way
+333|6272|...
Well, that is true.
inane little opines
2011-07-20 04:00:26
Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6743

Kmar wrote:

You plan ahead. And when we're talking about the cosmological scale of space and time you plan way ahead. We live on a planet with finite resources. Searching the cosmos to build a better iPod is not the point. We all put value in different things. It's arbitrary. However one day our universal survival will depend on that desire to push the technological edge. We've got an incredible amount of energy and resources located right here within our solar neighborhood. There's no reason we shouldn't be tapping in to it.
that's very carl sagan whereas the rest of the world seems to be in more of a donnie reagan phase
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
2011-07-20 04:01:09
Shocking
sorry you feel that way
+333|6272|...
If we started mining that Eros rock the value of rare minerals and the like would plummet, and I see that as being a good thing. It would benefit everyone. Regardless of wether or not most of those minerals will be used for seemingly pointless consumerism.

Last edited by Shocking (2011-07-20 04:01:58)

inane little opines
2011-07-20 04:06:06
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5631|London, England

Dilbert_X wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Searching the cosmos to build a better iPod is not the point.
Thats what will happen though, we are scouring the earth to make TVs and telephones right now.
Why do you expect it to change?
Why does it bother you?
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
2011-07-20 04:07:35
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5631|London, England

Uzique wrote:

we're all suckered into it, i just think it's a false sense of progress for the most part. most of it is market stimulated and exists for the sake of turning over a short-term buck, the vast majority of minerals and rare resources being mined up are hardly going towards building new space shuttles to take men to mars. they're going on motherboards that will be thrown out in 2 years and replaced, and on iphones that have a product life-cycle of about 0.35 years.
No, it's real progress. Lithium ion batteries and ever increasing chip speed didn't happen without the products being bought. Should we have waited three hundred years for some research university lab to perfect it before we all went out and bought one?
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
2011-07-20 04:08:23
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5631|London, England

Shocking wrote:

If we started mining that Eros rock the value of rare minerals and the like would plummet, and I see that as being a good thing. It would benefit everyone. Regardless of wether or not most of those minerals will be used for seemingly pointless consumerism.
Correct. Well, the mining companies here on earth wouldn't benefit, but QQ
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
2011-07-20 04:09:01
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,816|6379|eXtreme to the maX

Jay wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Searching the cosmos to build a better iPod is not the point.
Thats what will happen though, we are scouring the earth to make TVs and telephones right now.
Why do you expect it to change?
Why does it bother you?
It doesn't bother me, its Kmar's point.

Why would it bother you if I were bothered?
No, it's real progress. Lithium ion batteries and ever increasing chip speed didn't happen without the products being bought. Should we have waited three hundred years for some research university lab to perfect it before we all went out and bought one?
Incremental technological andvances and progress aren't the same thing.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2011-07-20 04:10:33)

Fuck Israel
2011-07-20 04:09:17
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6874|132 and Bush

Uzique wrote:

Kmar wrote:

You plan ahead. And when we're talking about the cosmological scale of space and time you plan way ahead. We live on a planet with finite resources. Searching the cosmos to build a better iPod is not the point. We all put value in different things. It's arbitrary. However one day our universal survival will depend on that desire to push the technological edge. We've got an incredible amount of energy and resources located right here within our solar neighborhood. There's no reason we shouldn't be tapping in to it.
that's very carl sagan whereas the rest of the world seems to be in more of a donnie reagan phase
Yea well you know me. Consider perhaps even our (apparent) mindless gadgets have their place in evolution. Maybe it's our inherent need to satisfy curiosity. I don't know. But I do think most human activities have a certain scientific purpose. Even if they're seemingly pointless on the surface.

Shocking, again I see the value of such things beyond the commodities trade.
Xbone Stormsurgezz
2011-07-20 04:11:53
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,816|6379|eXtreme to the maX

Kmar wrote:

Perhaps it's our inherent need to satisfy curiosity.
Its our inherent need to avoid doing anything worthwhile (he says on an internet video-game forum FML)
Fuck Israel
2011-07-20 04:17:05
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6874|132 and Bush

Dilbert_X wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Perhaps it's our inherent need to satisfy curiosity.
Its our inherent need to avoid doing anything worthwhile (he says on an internet video-game forum FML)
Some yes. That hasn't been the case throughout the whole of human history though. We can't all be rocket scientist... nor should we. It goes back to where you place value. I completely grasp the notion that some people, perhaps like you, are perfectly content lumbering around this rock with no ambition.
Xbone Stormsurgezz
2011-07-20 04:21:36
Shocking
sorry you feel that way
+333|6272|...
Improving the quality of life for everyone doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me. Besides, as soon as we start mining one space rock it's going to mark the start of a whole new industry aimed at space mining & exploration. It will spark progress. Then there's the realisation that we would have an almost unlimited quantity of very cheap resources at our disposal which in turn will enable us to conduct scientific experiments of absolutely enormous sizes. I see the consumerism part as being a good side-show.
inane little opines
2011-07-20 04:26:36
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,816|6379|eXtreme to the maX

Kmar wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Perhaps it's our inherent need to satisfy curiosity.
Its our inherent need to avoid doing anything worthwhile (he says on an internet video-game forum FML)
Some yes. That hasn't been the case throughout the whole of human history though. We can't all be rocket scientist... nor should we. It goes back to where you place value. I completely grasp the notion that some people, perhaps like you, are perfectly content lumbering around this rock with no ambition.
Says the realtor

Everyone can achieve something or make a contribution, most people are too lazy or scared to do so.
Fuck Israel
2011-07-20 04:27:05
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5631|London, England

Dilbert_X wrote:

Jay wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:


Thats what will happen though, we are scouring the earth to make TVs and telephones right now.
Why do you expect it to change?
Why does it bother you?
It doesn't bother me, its Kmar's point.

Why would it bother you if I were bothered?
No, it's real progress. Lithium ion batteries and ever increasing chip speed didn't happen without the products being bought. Should we have waited three hundred years for some research university lab to perfect it before we all went out and bought one?
Incremental technological andvances and progress aren't the same thing.
It's the very definition of progress.
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
2011-07-20 04:28:50
Shocking
sorry you feel that way
+333|6272|...

Dilbert_X wrote:

Says the realtor

Everyone can achieve something or make a contribution, most people are too lazy or scared to do so.
As long as you work you're contributing.
inane little opines
2011-07-20 04:29:52
Kmar
Truth is my Bitch
+5,695|6874|132 and Bush

Dilbert_X wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:


Its our inherent need to avoid doing anything worthwhile (he says on an internet video-game forum FML)
Some yes. That hasn't been the case throughout the whole of human history though. We can't all be rocket scientist... nor should we. It goes back to where you place value. I completely grasp the notion that some people, perhaps like you, are perfectly content lumbering around this rock with no ambition.
Says the realtor

Everyone can achieve something or make a contribution, most people are too lazy or scared to do so.
Have you ever met a realtor that wasn't ambitious? ffs they're self employed.
Xbone Stormsurgezz

 

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