Hacker News Reader

ytturbedon An Imaginary Town Becomes Real, Then Not

Heh. Along similar lines I predict there will eventually be a teapot in orbit around Mars, placed there by philosophical pranksters.

ytturbedon China no longer has a stranglehold on the world's supply of rare earth metals

The perspective is that humans can't be trusted with asteroid deflecting technology in case they use it to attack Earth.

But this ignores the fact that nature has already placed an asteroid out there with our name on it. Which will kill us if we don't do our duty and prevent it!

ytturbedon China no longer has a stranglehold on the world's supply of rare earth metals

Rocks are passing by us all the time at distances comparable to the moon's orbit. Some of them are rich in rare metals. Some of them threaten the Earth itself. So let's deflect them onto the moon, noting the crash sites. This will (a) teach us how to defend the Earth, (b) create an incentive for mining companies to build a moon base, (c) increase the supply of rare metals.