Monthly Archives: January 2014

Although my last article on Bitcoins was never meant to be a two-parter, the volume of discussion it generated on this blog, Reddit, Twitter, and elsewhere was more than enough to warrant a response. Among Bitcoins detractors, the consensus was that the article didnt go far enough, whereas Bitcoins supporters responded with a wide array of criticism. Most of the coherent arguments though, boiled down to two points: First, Bitcoins are software and their technical issues can be corrected over time, and second, the idea that I was fundamentally wrong about deflationary currency and that it is in fact a good thing. Although the responses to these arguments seem intuitive, it is understandable that fanatics and people buried under the weight of thousands of dollars in sunk-cost fallacy Bitcoins could see otherwise. But that article was never meant to convince the Bitcoin zealots, it was meant for those of you on the fence, caught up in the excitement of logarithmic growth charts and fancy mining rigs. If thats you, and you havent quite yet drunk the Kool-Aid, keep reading.

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Ive been following Bitcoin for a few years now. I was there when it first peaked (and crashed) in 2011, and then peaked and crashed again in April of this year. I read along as Laszlo trekked across the country on Bitcoin and bought the infamous $2.5 million pizza (just a $1,000,000 pizza now), and watched in amusement as Bruce Wagner bumbled his way through the first BitCon. Ive read countless articles and forum posts alternately attacking and applauding Bitcoins, and countless more articles analyzing the whims that drive the Bitcoin market. All too often, the issue of Bitcoins viability as a currency is muddied by non sequiturs, strawmen, and ad hominem attacks from both sides of the debate. Despite all the confusion, misunderstandings, and poorly-guided rants though, when boiled down to the essential facts, things dont look too good for Bitcoin.

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When Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis announced their founding of Planetary Resources in 2012 with the goal of conducting industrial scale asteroid mining many people, myself included, dismissed it as a near-insane pipe dream. Even now, a year later and after the founding of a second asteroid mining company, Deep Space Industries, and a NASA proposal to capture an asteroid into lunar orbit the idea still sounds just as kooky as it did on first impression. Indeed, with the retirement of the space shuttle and the dates for a manned Mars mission slipping further and further back, the idea of something as ambitious as asteroid mining sounds increasingly implausible. But it has been a year, and those of us with curious minds and a genuine belief in humanitys limitless potential owe the idea a fair examination.

There are three significant barriers to development of an industrial-scale asteroid mining capability: technical, economic, and political. Each barrier is equally significant in its own way, and each poses its own unique challenges. In order to achieve success, the budding asteroid mining is approaching each of them with a separate understanding of the distinct timelines, tools, and professionals required to solve them. To help limit the scope of this article though, the primary focus will be on the approach that Planetary Resources is taking (No offense to Deep Space Industries, theres just more info out there from Planetary Resources to dig into).

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Theres something about receiving a preview copy of a scifi book from an @jpl.nasa.gov email address that lends it a sort of instant credibility. While the author might not carry the same scientific gravity as von Braun, or the writing talents of Asimov, the end product is proof enough that a dash of each talent is more than sufficient to produce a good novel.

I was initially turned onto Tesla Prime and the Regulus Event by the novels website, where the first 10 chapters can be read entirely free. In fact, Douglas, the author, plans to release the entire book for free eventually. But ultimately, the words free and science fiction alone arent what held my attention. Only one chapter into the novel and it became obvious that I had stumbled on a real gem: a captivating, well-polished novel from a first time author.

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