Space Miner Forty-Niner

Who has the right to mine an asteroid? That's the question asked by this PopSci article. It was penned by the ever-egotisical Glenn Reynolds, who has apparently added to his burgeoning résumé the professions of writer and professor of "space law." His ultimate conclusion is that it will be the equivalent of a 19th century-style gold rush and nearly impossible to regulate in its initial stages. Whatever my opinions of Reynolds' ego, I tend to agree with him on this, and I can answer the posed question very succinctly: "Whoever gets there first with the most guns."

That's a good thing, by the way. The strength of capitalism and so-called Yankee trading is that it harnesses the most powerful human instinct -- selfishness -- and turns it toward the greater good by rapidly growing wealth for the society as a whole. Despite the fact that modern (read: leftist) scholars poo-poo the idea of manifest destiny and proliferation of democratic principles through wealth expansion, it worked. Yes, the apologists for the American Indians will piss and moan, as they always do. History is; get over it. Call it a precipitous assumption if you like, but I doubt there are Little Green Indians living in the asteroid belt.

Bring on the 'Roid Rush, I say! (Er, perhaps we'll have to find a better name for it...)