gorah_pindu Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Okay, maybe this is nothing to do with 'interstellar', but here is an interesting fact: there is enough iron there [in the asteroid belt] to cover the earth to a depth of one-half mileFurthermore: some asteroids contain more iron than has been used in the entire of human historyMankind needs resources to sustain itself - with a population that the UN estimates will plateau at 9 billion this century. At present-day prices, this iron would be worth about $7 billion for each person now alive. Add in nickel, platinum, copper, gold, uranium and so on, and the total exceeds $100 billion per person. I strongly reccomend 'Mining the Sky', by John S Lewis, and any of Robert Zubrin's related books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC1981 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Far more good will come of thinking about how to reduce the global population to 1-2 billion in the next few centuries instead of figuring out a way of accomodating them. The earth is not going to survive without its species diversity- which is direct victim of our burgeoning population, clear-cutting for wood demand, making way for more agricultural land and cities, despite the fact that we dominate over 70% of the habitable land. We are supposed to be one species amongst many on this earth- not kill off everything to support our virus-like growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 So, is a 7 billion population sustainable then ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorah_pindu Posted July 17, 2007 Author Share Posted July 17, 2007 We are already just about there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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