l run out of the nonrenewable resources
on which the industrial base depends. When the
resources have been depleted, a precipitous
collapse of the economic system will result,
manifested in massive unemployment, decreased
food production, and a decline in population as the
death rate soars. There is no smooth transition,
no gradual slowing down of activity; rather, the
economic system consumes successively larger
amounts of the depletable resources until they
are gone. The characteristic behavior of the
system is overshoot and collapse."

Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on
Economic Trends and the Greenhouse Crisis
Foundation, in Biosphere Politics: A New
Consciousness for a New Century (Crown Publishers,
New York 1991) reports how industrialized and
developed nations exploit the sea beds of the world
for their rich deposits of industrial minerals and
metals. He notes that the struggle between rich
and poor nations and multinational corporations over
minerals in the vast oceanic seabed is likely to be
heated in the years to come, especially as reserves
of land-based minerals approach exhaustion.

News media reported in October 2000 that the
People's Republic of China announced plans to
explore Earth's moon for useful substances. On
October 15, 2003 the PRC launched into Earth
orbit its first manned rocket.

In a speech on January 14, 2004 the President of
the United States of America unveiled a new vision
for space exploration. He called on the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to
"...gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare
for new journeys to worlds beyond our own."

"We do not know where this journey will end," said
the President, "yet we know this: Human beings are
headed into the cosmos." White House Press Release,
January 14, 2004.

##

The Future

The Interstellar Mining and Teleport System

The System consists of two terminals, each of
which includes an integral, fully robotized capability
to conduct internal command-and-control,
self-maintenance and repair, and logistical,
teleportation, communications and other functions
and operations essential to its unique mission. The
terminal positioned in orbit above Alpha Centauri is
designated the Extractor and the terminal positioned
along the Solar System's rim is designated the
Collector.

The Extractor selects and draws pre-designated
elements, minerals and other usable substances
from the Alpha Centau