Mining 16 Psyche

"Mining 16 Psyche" is a short essay by Karl Jones.

Mining 16 Psyche

The technical challenges are formidable, but yes, we can reasonably hope to mine [[Psyche 16 (nonfiction)|Psyche 16 within, say, fifty years.

First point: Fuck Gold. Quote me on that: Fuck Gold.

Gold is a non-industrial metal — its primary function is to continue being valuable to people who are rich because of gold. We should not even be mining gold on Earth, let alone spending trillions trying to get it from space in bulk.

Nickel and iron, however, we do need, and getting it from the asteroids is the obvious next source, now that we've tapped out the best the Earth has to offer.

But consider another problem: if we flood the world with cheap iron and nickel, maybe the economy booms and collapses, as happened when Spain was overwhelmed by New World silver and gold.

Price revolution

Wikipedia:

The Price Revolution, sometimes known as the Spanish Price Revolution, was a series of economic events that occurred between the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 17th century, and most specifically linked to the high rate of inflation that occurred during this period across Western Europe. Prices rose on average roughly sixfold over 150 years. This level of inflation amounts to 1–1.5% per year, a relatively low inflation rate for modern-day standards, but rather high given the monetary policy in place in the 16th century.

Generally it is thought that this high inflation was caused by the large influx of gold and silver from the Spanish treasure fleet from the New World, including Mexico, Peru, and the rest of the Spanish Empire.

Specie flowed through Spain, increasing Spanish prices, and then spread over Western Europe as a result of Spanish balance of payments deficit. This enlarged the monetary supply and price levels of many European countries. Combined with this influx of gold and silver, population growth and urbanization perpetuated the price revolution. According to this theory, too many people with too much money chased too few goods.

Joe Haldeman has considered some of these issues in his novels, e.g. "Worlds", which I also recommend as an interesting take on how to overthrow the United States.

Fiction cross-reference

• Crimes against astronomical constants
• Fuck Gold - see also "Fucking gold on Psyche 16 — and vice versa" by Fell Swoop
• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Psyche 16 (nonfiction)

External links

• Price revolution @ Wikipedia