I do like Pete's comparison of the Moon landings with the Viking settlements in North America. It certainly does look like the next time people go to the Moon, they will be essentially starting out from scratch.
Pete & Occhidiangela may have gotten the wrong idea about my mention of the World Trade Center / Pentagon attacks. I did not mean to imply that the attack itself was historically significant. Rather, it served to provide an excuse for later actions by the US administration. Rather like how the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand gave Austria an excuse to invade Serbia.
Occhidiangela's point about the Geneva Conventions not applying per se to the internees at Guantanamo Bay is valid, but there is still a a question of the moral correctness of holding some of these people. The US administration has recently admitted that an unspecified number being held there are believed to be innocent of any wrongdoing, and are being held only because they may provide useful information. "Do you know anyone who is, or has ever been, a member of a terrorist group?"
Edit: By the way, Occhidiangela, the folks interned at camp X-Ray could fall under Section 2 of Article IV,
"Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
© That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war."
Unfortunately, we don't know if the prisoners meet these conditions, since the US has not provided details about their capture.
Pete's mention of the development of space omits one possible scenario for future development. Two economic forces drive development, either a lot of people will pay a little bit, or a few people will pay a whole lot. Communications satellites have been a driving force for the first case.
It struck me on one of my daily visits to a local nursing home what could bring about development and colonization based on the second case. There are a lot of people who have severely restricted mobility in our normal gravity. Imagine what someone would pay to live out the rest of their lives with greatly improved mobility under one-sixth gravity. A lot of those people also drag around ventilators and supplemental oxygen, so a controlled, artificial environment would be a plus.
Of course, there are not enough of the old folks yet who have enough financial resources to make this feasible, but the Baby Boomers getting older. There are a lot of those folks who have a personal net worth large enough to take a bite out of the cost of a space-based or Moon-based facility. If Bil Gates and Paul Allen were stuck in wheelchairs, in constant discomfort, how much would they pay to be able to live out their lives on the Moon?
Of course, a colony made up exclusively of old folks is not going to see it's population increase except by immigration. But the support personnel for such a facility would give the colony inhabitants of child-bearing age. Any facilities with other objectives (research, mining, etc.) would be a bonus.
Of course, the technology that made Neil & Buzz's trip possible won't likely be much help for that future colony, but you can never tell- if they live long enough, they may be customers. :)
-rcv-
Pete & Occhidiangela may have gotten the wrong idea about my mention of the World Trade Center / Pentagon attacks. I did not mean to imply that the attack itself was historically significant. Rather, it served to provide an excuse for later actions by the US administration. Rather like how the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand gave Austria an excuse to invade Serbia.
Occhidiangela's point about the Geneva Conventions not applying per se to the internees at Guantanamo Bay is valid, but there is still a a question of the moral correctness of holding some of these people. The US administration has recently admitted that an unspecified number being held there are believed to be innocent of any wrongdoing, and are being held only because they may provide useful information. "Do you know anyone who is, or has ever been, a member of a terrorist group?"
Edit: By the way, Occhidiangela, the folks interned at camp X-Ray could fall under Section 2 of Article IV,
"Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
© That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war."
Unfortunately, we don't know if the prisoners meet these conditions, since the US has not provided details about their capture.
Pete's mention of the development of space omits one possible scenario for future development. Two economic forces drive development, either a lot of people will pay a little bit, or a few people will pay a whole lot. Communications satellites have been a driving force for the first case.
It struck me on one of my daily visits to a local nursing home what could bring about development and colonization based on the second case. There are a lot of people who have severely restricted mobility in our normal gravity. Imagine what someone would pay to live out the rest of their lives with greatly improved mobility under one-sixth gravity. A lot of those people also drag around ventilators and supplemental oxygen, so a controlled, artificial environment would be a plus.
Of course, there are not enough of the old folks yet who have enough financial resources to make this feasible, but the Baby Boomers getting older. There are a lot of those folks who have a personal net worth large enough to take a bite out of the cost of a space-based or Moon-based facility. If Bil Gates and Paul Allen were stuck in wheelchairs, in constant discomfort, how much would they pay to be able to live out their lives on the Moon?
Of course, a colony made up exclusively of old folks is not going to see it's population increase except by immigration. But the support personnel for such a facility would give the colony inhabitants of child-bearing age. Any facilities with other objectives (research, mining, etc.) would be a bonus.
Of course, the technology that made Neil & Buzz's trip possible won't likely be much help for that future colony, but you can never tell- if they live long enough, they may be customers. :)
-rcv-