
The Next Gold Rush Will Be Under the Sea - rl3
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/deep-sea-gold-rush
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vonklaus
we need to price this shit in to the goddamn market, having random unpriced
externalities that can just be captured by whatever the base cost to obtain
them, is reckless.

Not only is it not an equitable way to disperse resources, but there is an
incentive to just absolutely destroy another key piece of the environment. I
am not some tree hugging greenie either, not there would be anything wrong
with that, but dispatching remote control bulldozers underwater in droves is
going to be a great way to ruin an ocean that already has significant
problems.

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earlyriser
I know I'm nitpicking, and I'm just using your phrase as an example, but it
always surprise me how often we exclude ourselves for being green behind an
utilitarian argument. I mean, is that a terrible thing? I don't hear often,
"I'm not a business shark, but I guess this business should be profitable".

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hanniabu
I consider myself a pretty green person, but I have use the same language as
the parent. The reason is because it prevents somebody from jumping to the
anti green approach and calling or assuming you're a tree hugger. This way
when you state that you aren't a tree hugger but still support a particular
argument, it makes them weigh the argument in a reasonable way instead of
going on the defensive right away. So it changes the logic from "I'm not a
tree hugger, screw your point and ideals" to "I'm not a tree hugger but
neither is this guy so his point may be reasonable, let me actually listen to
this argument and see". It's a smoke rewording to get a person to be more
receptive. (Typed on phone, hope it made sense)

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xfactor973
I keep wondering why we don't mine garbage landfills. Surely somewhere the
technology exists to turn all that waste into raw materials again.

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Turing_Machine
Well, on a fundamental level, if energy were cheap enough you could just
vaporize the stuff and condense it out as pure elements, so it's not really a
technology problem per se. It's an economic problem.

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littletimmy
Is it not enough that many great land species are extinct that they now want
to destroy ocean life?

I wish I were powerful enough to do something to stop this.

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dsfyu404ed
Like we haven't heard that before...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian)

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rbobby
Underwater diamond mining already exists. Mighty Ships did an episode about
it: [http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/mighty-
ships/peace-i...](http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/mighty-ships/peace-
in-africa/809/3399768)

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karmicthreat
Proteus IV always hated this idea and I have to agree. Man can do too much
damage under the sea. Imagine the open pit mines and their pollution able to
directly contaminate the water.

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Advaith
What about bitcoin ? :P

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beedogs
Yeah, let's disturb the sea floor, what could possibly go wrong?

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mahranch
Clathrate gun hypothesis:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis)

