Re: Historical comparisons

On 26 Feb 2006 13:45:45 -0800, in a place far, far away,
alexandersheppard@xxxxxxxxxxx made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

The problem is that there are really no historical analogies, given
that the world has grown so much richer with the end of the dominance
of the socialist paradigm, and the acceleration of technology. What
many will want is experiences, and they'll be willing and able to pay
for them. That means that space travel will have a large market.

I don't really think the experience of zero gravity is going to drive a
great wave of expansion.

Neither do I. Nice plump strawman, though.

What experiences did you mean, then? Quick travel to other spots on
Earth? A nice view?

Yes, and perhaps others. People will get out of it what they wish to.

The reality is that space is just an
inhospitable enviornment for human beings. It will never make a lot of
economic sense to bring too many humans there;

That's not "the reality." It's merely your (uninformed) opinion.

Millions of humans disagree with you, if market research is any guide.

Well, first of all we have to understand what I mean by "too many".
What I'm talking about is colonization. I'm not ruling out some limited
tourism like what you're (apparently) describing.

For certain values of "limited," I suppose. Hopefully it will be
adequate to drive down the costs to the point at which settlement
becomes feasible for those who wish to do it.

In the grand scheme of things, though, that isn't really very important.

In the near term, it's vital.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Historical comparisons
    ... while the other died a slow lingering death. ... many will want is experiences, and they'll be willing and able to pay ... Millions of humans disagree with you, if market research is any guide. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Historical comparisons
    ... That means that space travel will have a large market. ... What experiences did you mean, ... Millions of humans disagree with you, if market research is any guide. ... What I'm talking about is colonization. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: New version of HLA Adventure has been released! :)
    ... And when the powers of the CPU can compete with humans ... Because poems are derived from experiences. ... realizeable unknown factor there, some things that just cannot be ... rules and abilities, they will be even better humans than most of us. ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: Historical comparisons
    ... what does the commercial passenger space industry look like to ... many will want is experiences, and they'll be willing and able to pay ... humans will be outperformed by thier technological creations sometime ... We could populate Europa ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: what are mosquitos good for?
    ... The challenge of space travel is not so much the physics of getting ... but the physiology of enabling them to survive the ... journey. ... As for going quietly and slowly, I doubt humans are even going to ...
    (rec.arts.books)