{"id":105775,"date":"2024-11-25T00:43:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T06:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105775"},"modified":"2024-11-25T00:43:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T06:43:00","slug":"105775","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105775","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trillionaires of Mars<\/a><\/p>\n

The first entity to establish a Mars colony will be the universe\u2019s first trillionaire.<\/p>\n

Lately, we\u2019ve had a lot of\u00a0puddlefish<\/a>\u00a0whining about how \u201cwe\u201d shouldn\u2019t go to Mars. Some of them actually think they get a vote, based on economic illiteracy and the delusion that SpaceX is somehow part of the US federal government.\u00a0[Closed caption for the hard-of-thinking: it isn\u2019t.]<\/em><\/p>\n

But others just think they are giving good investment advice… SpaceX investors can do what they want, but Mars is a frozen wasteland full of nothing but near-vacuum and rocks.<\/p>\n

So why would anyone want to go there?<\/p>\n

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Source:\u00a0@cb_doge<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Elon<\/a>\u00a0Musk likes to answer this question by pointing out that it\u2019s not a good idea to store all humanity’s eggs in one basket. He\u2019s right, but this kind of argument isn\u2019t comprehensible to everyone, nor is it the full picture.<\/p>\n

So now it\u2019s\u00a0the SF writer\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0turn.<\/p>\n

And therefore I present to you…<\/p>\n

An Economic Roadmap for the Future of Humanity.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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(In which Devon Eriksen explains how to bring about a second industrial revolution, and what the next step is on the road to becoming a Kardashev-1 civilization.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The invention of manufacturing, and the transition from an agricultural to a manufacturing economy, is called the \u201cIndustrial Revolution<\/em>\u201d because its effect on the state of not only the economy, but daily life and the entire human world, was… revolutionary. Unprecedented.\u00a0Unimaginable<\/em>. Understandable only in hindsight. Everything changed. Imagine trying to describe the modern world to your preindustrial ancestors.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe took that black stuff that seeps out of the ground, set it on fire, and used the fire to turn things that do the work of skilled craftsmen, only thousands of times faster, and now we all have horseless carriages and talking abacuses that can send a message to the other side of the planet in the time it takes to cough.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This would sound like nonsense. Because to them, tar was just sticky black stuff that you find in the bottom of bogs, and coal was a dirty rock, and steam was the stuff that came out of your tea kettle. And Mars… well, Mars is just a frozen, airless, desert… right?<\/p>\n

To bring about technological and economic revolutions, you have to learn to see value in new ways.\u00a0<\/strong>The conquistadors who first introduced civilization to the Americas were looking for spices and gold. That was their definition of \u201cvalue.\u201d But if all they found was gold, all they would have gained was an unprecedented economic crisis. With their preindustrial knowledge of economics, they didn\u2019t understand that gold was a\u00a0token<\/em>\u00a0of value, not a\u00a0store<\/em>\u00a0of value. A massive influx of gold alone would have brought about unprecedented inflation.<\/p>\n

Ouch.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Europe, civilization, and humanity, they found real value as well, of sorts they were looking for. Land. Timber. Navigable rivers. Potatoes.<\/p>\n

Yes, potatoes.<\/p>\n

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Wealth!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Laugh it up, fuzzball, but potatoes allow you to feed populations you just couldn\u2019t before. With less farmers.<\/p>\n

That means more workers. More craftsmen. More geniuses to invent things. More civilization.<\/p>\n

Potatoes.<\/p>\n

Unexpected. But valuable.<\/p>\n

So what about Mars?<\/h2>\n
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Mars is just a frozen, airless, desert… right?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Well, for those of you who can read between the blatantly obvious lines, maybe not.<\/p>\n

But… how? Well, what do you need for an industrial revolution?<\/p>\n

You need a new source of cheaper energy.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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The first one had wood, coal, and oil, replacing animal labor and wind turbines, which are only suitable for grinding flour for medieval peasants.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

You need cheap raw materials.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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The new world abounded with timber and ore. And bigger populations, from better crops, and new energy sources meant cheaper mining.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

You need clever people to figure out new technologies.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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The West was never short of smart people. And now they had more than ever.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Thanks to the potatoes.<\/p>\n

You need a permissive legal environment.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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