Wow — some of the comments here are pretty bizarre. I enjoyed the article. Shannon reminds us of an important issue, that the moon “belongs to everyone…We will be putting industry largely outside the social controls that we’ve evolved for 10,000 years.”

My concern is that issues such as that will cause us to wait, or will enable governments to take control of lunar exploration — effectively blocking it. Government moves at glacial speed (it is now 50 years since Apollo 11). And if the moon were ever declared to be off limits for “exploitation”, as Antarctica is, we could then say goodbye to any future there, except for a few scientists.

Yes, exploitation — which always goes hand in hand with settlement — will cause some special interests to become wealthy. But while I don’t like that, I realize that it is the way of the world. The “social controls” that we have evolved over the past 10,000 years are entirely designed for the benefit of special interests, and serve mainly to enable those who have things to hold onto them.

Opening the moon to exploitation might enrich some empires and create new ones, but it will also create adventure and opportunity for potentially millions of people. Not perfect, but I’ll take it!