OUTER SPACE: Could space industries fund a Basic Income?
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
