Decius wrote:
] I think its inevitable. In 100 years the moon will be covered
] with settlements. On dark nights you'll look up a see a sphere
] covered with a glowing spider web of cities and roads. We take
] the night moon for granted, hanging there naked and pristine
] as nature created her. Future generations will not know that
] moon, and the last to know her will mourn her loss. I think
] someone will probably buy enough land up there to make a sign
] visible from earth. Land will be cheap at first as the place
] is inhospitable. And there will be nothing you can do about it
] really. What people on the moon do with their land is
] definately out of the jurisdiction of some country on earth.

[ I dunno, i wouldn't say anything is inevitable, except maybe the end of the universe. It's like anything, a matter of fighting for things you believe in. I don't think unbridled corporatism is our assured future... i think there's plenty of time to work out positive solutions to our problems. I *definitely* don't think the moon will be out of Earth nations' jurisdiction for a long, *long* time, if ever.
Do i think that the dark moon will live forever? No, and I feel like that's probably a good thing all in all. I'm not against change, just change that minimizes or marginalizes our humanity. Seeing the lights of a moon settlement seems to me to expand and excite that feeling of human accomplishment. Sky-sized advertisements, on the other hand, diminish our humanity, underscore the baser aspects of our nature and lock us into traditional modes, even if it's under a different mechanism.
In the same way that I can appreciate achitechture and efficient means for housing people doesn't mean i wish to see all the world covered with it, it's a matter of balancing progress with history, technology with nature. It's not a new theme, at all, and I tend to feel like we're sort of losing the battle in a lot of ways, but it's important, i think, to give plenty of thought to things like human commons, nature vs. efficiency, etc. We'll be voting in our lifetimes on laws regarding utilization of extraterrestrial resources... it's time to think about that now, right along side your opinion on utilization of earthbound forests, air and sea resources. -k]

RE: Yahoo! News - Russian Inventor Patents Space-Ads Device