How can we fund a universal basic income? Margaret Morris, the author of Moon Base and Beyond, proposes an unusual and creative suggestion: space mining.
Asteroids, for example, are rich in precious metals — which, if harvested, could generate immense wealth to distribute to earthlings in the form of a social dividend:
[W]ithout expensive manned missions or heavy-launch vehicles, and by using highly-intelligent, more dexterous space-tolerant robotics, and indigenous building materials that require no heavy lifting or heavy machinery for construction projects, a space program can concentrate on building a multiplicity of industries designed to enlarge the space economy so as to increasingly bring more wealth to our planet.
She goes on to say that “The idea is to greatly enlarge the space economy to provide for everyone who needs income on our planet,” increasing the amount of the basic income as the space industries grow more lucrative.
You can read her full report, including a some detail about the technologies, here:
Margaret Morris, “A Way to Pay for Global Citizen’s Income: Project Update and Report,” transhumanity.net.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Thank you very much Kate for reading my article and helping to spread the word. As I said, the “highly-metallic asteroid…2011 UW158, located out beyond our Moon…is estimated to contain as much as $5.4 trillion in precious metals alone.(27) This is almost a third of the entire U.S. economy at roughly $18 trillion. We can begin to imagine the kind of wealth that could be brought back to Earth to end poverty and allow everyone to live comfortably and advance educationally…” But securing such income for the people requires organized volunteerism by the people — or else when it and others like it are mined, it will not likely be for the benefit of the people as a whole. We need good core volunteers. Right now I am working overtime every day of the week to get DMF up and running so we will have the needed robotics ready and tested for space mining. Thank you again very much Kate. — Margaret
This is ridiculous!
money has value only if someone is willingly to move himself for earning it,
You don’t understand money, economics nor space activities.