Terence McKenna on Capitalism and Space Exploration

My comment:

I think he greatly underestimated the amount of wholesome economic growth that the earth could sustain, if only it weren't for the corruption of capitalism. Capitalism is bankrupt because it ultimately means you turn valuable natural resources into worthless credits, be they bank notes or balances in computer databases. Once you've consumed half your natural resources the balance tips and natural resources become the measure of value of money. That's all we need to do now, I think: adjust to a new valuation regime. He's right about heavy industry. That should be done in space, but not low earth orbit because then it all ends up falling onto our heads! Do it in the Oort cloud, after you've learned to steer asteroids around. The important thing is not to get into a rush where it all has to happen before everything down here falls apart!

But I don't actually think capitalism is capable of backing any serious attempt at space development because the payback time is too long. Who is going to invest in something that only yields a return in 500 years or more? So the only space development capitalism can muster is SpaceX and their flying aluminium cans.

See Natasha Exploring Abandoned Soviet Buildings and Anastasia - How to Never Give Up.

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