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Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#42
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>While I understand their concerns, it seems a bit crazy to think you have any right to tell people what to do or not do on the moon. Have you stopped to think what happens to the earth if the moon were just outright gone? Because that's ultimately what the debate is about. If anything valuable is found there, you can be assured someone will strip mine it until every last piece of value is removed, and the non-valuab…

If someone can mine the entire moon away I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement that would be

If someone can cut down an entire forest then I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement that would be.

If someone can melt an entire ice shelf then I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement that would be.

If someone can frack an entire country then I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement that would be.

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#43
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone can mine the entire moon away I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement that would be

"If someone can cut down the entire Amazon Rainforest, I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement." Whether you're trolling or not, what a horrible take unless you're hoping the human race just wipes itself out. With our current rate of technological progress, someone having the ability to mine the moon to nothing is at most 500 years away, maybe sooner if they find something under the surface that make…

If there's iron there, then there's the potential for Low-background Steel ...

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: What is the difference between telling people what they can and can't do on the moon vs telling people what they can and can't do on vacant land here on earth? If I go out to some remote area in the United States and start building houses, I'll almost certainly get into legal trouble, especially if I don't have any permits and definitely if I don't own the land. Who gets to own the moon? Is it just…

>> Who gets to own the moon? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first to the moon and they planted the US flag on it in 1969, so that technically made it US territory. But then when they took off in the lander, the blast blew the flag over. I don't know if that affected the legal status or not.

Laws only matter within a state. In the international realm, there is no common judge and no binding law. Nations exist in a state of nature.

In other words, ownership of the moon won't be determined by technical legal questions about Armstrong's flag, but rather by a stick-measuring contest among the interested nations.

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#45

While I understand their concerns, it seems a bit crazy to think you have any right to tell people what to do or not do on the moon.

Serious question: What is the difference between telling people what they can and can't do on the moon vs telling people what they can and can't do on vacant land here on earth? If I go out to some remote area in the United States and start building houses, I'll almost certainly get into legal trouble, especially if I don't have any permits and definitely if I don't own the land. Who gets to own the moon? Is it just…

> Who gets to own the moon?

The United States of America currently owns the moon as they are the only country to put a flag into it.

(In case anyone can't detect the joke - theres a treaty from 1967 that says every nation hsa equal access to the moon)

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: What is the difference between telling people what they can and can't do on the moon vs telling people what they can and can't do on vacant land here on earth? If I go out to some remote area in the United States and start building houses, I'll almost certainly get into legal trouble, especially if I don't have any permits and definitely if I don't own the land. Who gets to own the moon? Is it just…

>> Who gets to own the moon? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first to the moon and they planted the US flag on it in 1969, so that technically made it US territory. But then when they took off in the lander, the blast blew the flag over. I don't know if that affected the legal status or not.

Ha, there was a treaty signed in 1967 or thereabout that made the moon property of "mankind" and that every nation has equal access to it. Now, if anything of value is found there I'm guessing this treaty is dropped immediately.

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: What is the difference between telling people what they can and can't do on the moon vs telling people what they can and can't do on vacant land here on earth? If I go out to some remote area in the United States and start building houses, I'll almost certainly get into legal trouble, especially if I don't have any permits and definitely if I don't own the land. Who gets to own the moon? Is it just…

>> Who gets to own the moon? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first to the moon and they planted the US flag on it in 1969, so that technically made it US territory. But then when they took off in the lander, the blast blew the flag over. I don't know if that affected the legal status or not.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 states there is no claim to sovereignty.

https://www.unoosa.org/res/oosadoc/data/documents/2017/stspa...

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#48
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: What is the difference between telling people what they can and can't do on the moon vs telling people what they can and can't do on vacant land here on earth? If I go out to some remote area in the United States and start building houses, I'll almost certainly get into legal trouble, especially if I don't have any permits and definitely if I don't own the land. Who gets to own the moon? Is it just…

The Age of Exploration has ended so long ago that we have all collectively forgotten how it works. Almost every square meter of land on Earth is covered by one group or another of People with Guns. The only ones that aren't are ones so deeply undesirable that nobody cares. But it actually works in a fairly intuitive manner. People who get to the Moon can do as they like there. Anyone who wants to stop them is invited…

That unavoidable independence that comes with long-term human settlements (especially in places further than the Moon) is interesting to me, if only because historically interesting things happen when significant numbers of people establish a system outside of currently established systems, something that’s not been practically possible on Earth for quite some time.

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#49
post #31

There was a similar theme in Kim Stanley Robinson's book Red Mars - a lot of the initial crew of colonists actually wanted to preserve the planet in its pristine state. I thought this was completely crazy. There are no ecosystems to protect, no endangered species, no green living things. Moving development from Earth into space should count as an overwhelming win for the environment.

> “We need to preserve the far side for exciting science that includes measuring magnetic fields associated with potentially habitable exoplanets and uncovering the mysteries of the unexplored Dark Ages of the early universe—using low radio frequency observations” Does that sound completely crazy? Like... the fact that they want to study it before private companies destroy it for their own benefit? > Moving developme…

> Moving development from Earth into space should count as an overwhelming win for the environment.

the CEO discourse for justifying Earth being explored for future space companies profiting +6 figures

Re: Why Scientists Are Calling for the Moon to Be Better Protected from Development

#50
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone can mine the entire moon away I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement that would be

"If someone can cut down the entire Amazon Rainforest, I say let them. What a fantastical technical achievement." Whether you're trolling or not, what a horrible take unless you're hoping the human race just wipes itself out. With our current rate of technological progress, someone having the ability to mine the moon to nothing is at most 500 years away, maybe sooner if they find something under the surface that make…

A species that has the technical capability to mine and transport away ~10^23 kg of mass, is a species that has the capability to replace that mass.
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