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Originally Posted by tofu
I have to agree. It seems to be terribly short-sighted to worry about polluting the Moon. Essentially what we're saying is, "no! please! For the love of god don't disturb the moon! Continue to destroy Earth instead!"
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Strawman argument. Nobody is saying this at all. Just because we need to be responsible about how we act on does not mean that we are saying it is OK to be environmentally irresponsible on Earth. Quite the opposite. A culture than demands, indeed needs responsible beahviour on Earth will demand it oin the Moon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tofu
Don't people understand that a modest foothold on the Moon makes it possible to eventually move all your industrialization to some far away asteroid or something?? You have to get the foothold first though. If these people could actually stop us from industrializing the moon, then we never get that foothold, and we are ALL worse off in the long run.
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People who think that all industry can be moved off Earth do not have the slightest idea of how economics actually works. There may well be space industrialisation eventually. But it will be in addition to terrestrial industrial activities, not instead of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tofu
This just seems like crazy talk to me. You could put every factory on Earth inside Copernicus crater and have room to spare. Are there really people who would object to that (if it were within our means)? Are there really people who would rather have a factory on Earth belching out pollution, so long as they can't see it??
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Again a strawman argument. Nobody is saying that they would rather have pollution of Earth than develop the Moon. What is being said is that lunar development requires guidelines and restains to ensure that the assets that make the Moon a desirable place for human activity are not squadered through short sightedness..
Quote:
Originally Posted by tofu
In spite of the pollution caused by the industrial revolution, we are all better off because of it. We now have the wealth to talk about conservation. Imagine if such short-sighted people had been around in 1830 saying "whoa whoa! Not so fast! You can't build that factory until we work out ALL the possible consequences!" If that had happened in 1830 then you and I would be living on farms today, cutting down trees MORE than we do today to build our homes and heat our homes, we'd been poorly educated, there'd be no Internet, we'd all have at least 10 kids to help with chores. The world would be a terrible place! Can't you see that?
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Straw man yet again. Nobody can work out all the consequences. But with a little foresight and planning some of the more obvious problems can be avoided.
Or do you really think that human activities should be carried out on the Moon without the slightest consideration to long term consequences? That waste gases should be vented regardless of the impact on astronomical installations and industrial facilities that rely on hard vaccum? That no consideration should be given to how dust mobilisation from landing and launch activities or mining might impinge on other uses of the Moon? That radio frequencies should be crowded with noise and chatter irrespective of the potential of the lunar farside to be the best place in the solar system for radioastronomy, or the hazards that uncontrolled RF uses can pose? Do you think there will be no controls on the use of lasers or plasma or ion beams?
Jon