Re: Hurry up guys
"Back in the day, a homestead in the USA required that the property be developed somehow, either by using it for agriculture or mining or "whatever" but you couldn't just claim it and then prevent others from doing so."
"Back in the day" it was still thought that development and expansion was always good at all costs. In fact the whole point of the policy was to encourage as many people as possible to settle as much land as possible as quickly as possible. Ecologically unsound, not to mention how much of the land was taken from Indian tribes.
The problem with any development policy is it's either discriminatory (some are allowed to develop but not others, because the space is limited), which leads to monopolistic and rent-seeking bahaviour. Or only those who can meet the strict guidelines are allowed, which translates to: those who have the resources (riches) to do so will profit exclusively. Or everyone is allowed with minimal entry barriers and screw tghe ecological consequences.
When it comes to resource extraction from space, none of those options is particularly palatable.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
