June 1997

Vol. 1, No. 3

Fishing Around Economics of Scale

By William Resing

     This month I want to bring our tool chest an interesting little idea that relates to the expansion of awareness and our ultimate goal "to spark a human migration into space"(Savage).  The challenge is timely and benefits our abilities, but in his enthusiasm he rightly never answers the question, why haven't we already done it.  The problem is outlined in The Millennial Project, as well as his vision for a solution.  But many people have articulated similar visions.  What makes the Millennial Foundation different? The answer (as Savage discovered) is that it must offer something that is truly and revolutionarily new.
     Social change is an arduous process, much like salmon swimming upstream.  Often the futility of the situation seems comparable as well.  But when people expand their awareness and are able to see the bigger picture, they find that the struggle is, indeed, worthwhile.  The salmon, although faced with their own death, are able to reproduce "salmoness."  Our constant individual struggles are punctuated by individual expressive acts that, like Savage's book, revolutionize what it means to reproduce "humanness." It is us to interpret these expressive acts and produce our own.
     Much of Savage's vision centers around the dramatic economic advantages endowed to any space faring culture.  These advantages stem mainly from economics of scale, along with almost limitless, cheap power.  (Of the second we will talk in some detail later.)  Our tool for this month stems from the first. Savage calculates that a mere 40km bubble colony could easily hold and comfortable support the entire human population of the earth (along with a substantial non-human biome.)  And there would be plenty of room.  A 90km bubble could provide a permanent home for 75 times that many due to the magic of cube root geometry.  The relation of surface area to volume means that shielding costs per capita go down dramatically as one increases the size and population of the colony.
     Other examples of economics of scale that he cites will be found on the moon.  When the construction costs of infrastructure are amortized over their lifetime, (which is longer than the earth because of a lack of corrosive effects like wind, rain, and oxidation) and divided among all the structure's inhabitants, they amount to pennies.  (In fact, the labor/energy costs would be the primary factor if one uses only local materials.)  Even the recycling system will take advantage of enormous cost savings that it can only benefit from if it is in constant high-volume use.
     Economies of scale demand inclusiveness.  We can't be too selective about who is in and who is out.  The more people who are in the better.  In expanding our awareness (and our roster) we must attempt to be as inclusive as possible.  Conflicts (endemic to social change,) dissolve as one moves away from exclusion.  As we are trying to build a network of awareness (and action) I will refer to our second tool as a matrix.  It is the pattern that will produce and reproduce our destiny in the new millennia.  The power of this "matrix of inclusive synergy" will grow exponentially as it gains new elements.  Occasionally it will go through quantum leaps in which we will all transform.  Diversity and inclusiveness will create a structure that is more than the sum of its parts.

The heavens in June

By Thomas J. Hager

     The astronomers among us had best enjoy the night sky while we can. For a few centuries will wash out all but the nearest of our celestial neighbors.  On the evening of June 11th, the Moon is at apogee (farthest from the earth).  The following evening (June 12th) the Moon is at first quarter (half full).  It is also 90 degrees from the Sun, thus rising at noon, highest at sunset and setting at midnight.  (All times are local; Daylight Savings Time throws the timing off by an hour.)
     The next night (June 13th) the Moon passes less than a half degree south of Mars.  Enjoy the Red Planet's ruddiness while it is still ruddy, before the terra-formers wash away our sister world's distinctive color.  And because of the Dyson Cloud, catch Mars while it is still easily visible, and not obscured by a haze of ecosphers.  A week later, you can catch our nearest celestial neighbor in her full grayish-silvered beauty.  On Friday, June 13th, the Moon is full.  (Fortunately none of us Foundationers are superstitious about the juxtaposition of a full Moon on Friday the 13th.)  As with Mars, catch the Moon in her pristine brilliance, before she becomes bespecled with green and blue domes of Avalon and her sister cities.

Doubling the enthusiasm

By Thomas Hagar

     When I last checked, the FMF had about 500 members, Core and Cladding. (My web browser can't read the inlines, so it's difficult for me to read some of the numbers.)  For fun I did a little arithmetic, guessing that membership had doubled each year since the Foundation's inception.  Working backward from 500 at the end of 1996, 1995 saw 250, '94 had 125, and so on. 1987 had membership of one.
     The inside back cover of the Little, Brown edition of The Millennial Project says that Marshall Savage established the First Millennial Foundation in 1987.  Coincidence?
     Then I projected forward, doubling membership each year. By the end of this year our membership should break 1000.  When the new millennium begins on January 1, 2001, the Foundation should have 8000 people on its roster.  Marshall should reach his magic number of 77,777 in the first half of 2004.  (For comparison, The Boeing Company has about 80,000 employees.)  By the end of the year membership will be nearly 130,000 - more than enough to populate the first Aquarian colony.
     If Foundation membership doubles every year.  We are still at the stage where nobody knows what the FMF is.  Though step 1 - establishing the Foundation - has been accomplished we still have long way to go.  This doubling will not occur automatically.  Marketing, publicity, and recruitment must be a top priority for every one of us.  Through publicity we will show the world who we are and where we are going.  Through recruitment we will reach Marshall's Magic Number.  Then the world will know.
We are an active culture.  Yeast, watch out.

Your editor welcomes essays, drawings, and cartoons, pertaining to the FMF. Send your musings to:
Thomas Hager 14215 Sunrise Drive NE Bainbridge WA 98110
Or you can e-mail your text to: thhager@linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us
Deadline for the next issue is July 13th.

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