Starship Asterisk*

THX1138 wrote:Surely the time will come to pass that quadrillion ton asteroids of gold, platinum or even pure carbon ( theres a thought how many karats would a hundred ton diamond be ? ) can and will be mined and possibly some even deflected into the oceans for later retrieval. If this were to happen in large enough quantities whereas precious metals and gemstones became as plentiful sand on the beach.........What then would a dollar be based on, or would be as the title of this topic suggests, the end of money.

geckzilla wrote:... put Kim Kardashian's butt on it ...

geckzilla wrote:Consulting the Book of Geckanomics, we'll never run out of money if we just keep printing it. Print more! And put Kim Kardashian's butt on it so people will keep using it.

bystander wrote:

geckzilla wrote:
Consulting the Book of Geckanomics, we'll never run out of money if we just keep printing it. Print more! And put Kim Kardashian's butt on it so people will keep using it.

Wow, talk about inflation.

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/04/10-famous-balancing-rocks-around-world.html wrote:
<<The Chiremba Balancing Rocks is located 13 km southeast of Harare in Epworth. Although strange balancing rocks are found all over Zimbabwe, this particular one became famous after being featured in Zimbabwean currency. The Balancing Rocks have been used as a metaphorical theme to explain the importance of development coupled with preserving the fragile environment of Zimbabwe.>>

Ann wrote:
You can't eat gold. On balance, water, air and food are so much more valuable to us humans.

• Thar's more than just gold in them thar hills

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining wrote:
<<Asteroid mining is the exploitation of raw materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects. The 1979 film Alien is about the crew of the Nostromo, a commercially operated spaceship on a return trip to Earth hauling 20 million tons of mineral ore mined from an asteroid. Minerals and volatiles could be mined from an asteroid or spent comet then used in space for in-situ utilization (e.g. construction materials and rocket propellant) or taken back to Earth. These include gold, iridium, silver, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium and tungsten for transport back to Earth; and iron, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, aluminium and titanium for construction, water, and oxygen to sustain astronauts, as well as hydrogen, ammonia, and oxygen for use as rocket propellant.>>

geckzilla wrote:You sure can get a lot of important things done with gold, though! There are probably some rich people out there using gold as a nutritional supplement.