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mbeall03

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  1. Objectivist reasoning for the privatization of space To address your topic, piecemeal, I will respond in similar fashion as you posted. 1. Ayn Rand would absolutely agree with fervent competition to achieve domination on the moon and space in general. The basic tenets of her philosophy state that since those millions of dollars would be owned by those individual companies, respectively, none of it would be a waste because they chose to invest. When private ownership is involved, then automatically a stake in the matter gets created and once again one's self-interest and current task become amalgamated. When these two are united, thinks Rand, the only hindrance is the scope of that individual or company's vision. Rand's ideas about human nature suggest that one is more inclined to waste something that has not been earned; for example, NASA and its budget is paid for by the US taxpayer. Since the big companies have vested economic interest, they will not act without care or lack the drive and vision necessary. 2. Beginning in 1961 with the United Nations Treaty for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, laws have been enacted to try and limit conflict from ever leaving the earth. If, for example, an American company mines Helium 3 from the moon, their property rights will be a source of contention and probably outrage from the international community. There are so many international laws that deal with space, but the 1967 Moon Treaty, article one clause three states: "This Agreement does not apply to extraterrestrial materials which reach the surface of the earth by natural means." Any sly lawyer could exploit this clause to include elements, like Helium 3, reached the Moon by natural means and are therefore able to be confiscated and exploited by the first person to "discover" them. Linguistic gymnastics aside, there are so many restrictions to space and this, more than anything, is probably the source for continued ban on private companies from even attempting to explore that possibility. For the worse, I might add... 3. If those companies fail, then they failed because they lacked the skill and it is no one's fault but their own, according to Objectivism. Laissez-faire capitalism functions that way: no balls no black chips, as they say.
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