Here’s a brilliant fact of the day:
“Since the beginning of civilization to 2011, the human race has created goods containing about 43 billion tonnes of iron. Of this huge amount of metal…. almost half has been made since 1990.”
But even at 2011 rates of use, there’s a billion years’ worth of iron left on earth, before we have to start on the asteroids. I’m a chapter in to Peter Marsh’s [amazon_link id=”0300117779″ target=”_blank” ]The New Industrial Revolution[/amazon_link] and already thoroughly enjoying it.
[amazon_image id=”0300117779″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The New Industrial Revolution: Consumers, Globalization and the End of Mass Production[/amazon_image]
True; but there’s a lot more than just *iron* in those asteroids, as noted in that article (and others). That article also quotes Robert Heinlein who also said, “The Earth is too fragile a basket for mankind to keep all it’s eggs in”, and I think early steps towards gathering the resources in space should be appplauded, not treated with the snide contempt of this post.
No snide contempt intended by me. I can’t speak for The Register. Their article merely comes near the top of a search for this subject.