China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by slfnflctd on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @07:27AM (#18910666)

I'm with you on this one. Along the way on the amazing expansion into space, we'll rediscover the critical importance of maximizing efficiency in meeting our basic needs. It would serve us well to get everyone associating that level of efficiency with our greatest feats of technological progress.

Also, what better way to get kids on board from a young age? "Susie, if you really want to be an astronaut, you must learn to manage your downstream recycling better!"

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by EForEndeavour on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @10:55AM (#18912019)

I don't understand human psychology well enough to be sure, but I could see it easily going the other way for some people. "We've got a self-sustaining colony on Mars! Finally, we can stop obsessing over such petty terrestrial details like CO2 and plastic waste that we once thought were so important to our species."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by TeMPOraL on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @02:08PM (#18913896)

I can easily see it going both ways at the same time.

Space colonization will be a strong forcing function for developing high-efficiency technology. Hell, it'll force us to comprehend the energy budgets to much deeper levels. I could see this resulting in a lot of new products and new ways of doing things.

At the same time, if on the social/cultural level, people start to feel that Earth is just but one place available to people, I can imagine them naturally care less.

[ Parent | on HN ]