A number of people have emailed me this awesome video, and it was posted on the forums. Some quotes from Robert Ballard:
_”NASA’s annual budget for space exploration could fund NOAA’s budget for ocean exploration for 1600 years.”_
_”Fifty percent of the United States of America is underneath the ocean. And we have better maps of Mars than those areas.”_
_”The deep sea is the largest museum on earth, it contains more history than all the museums on land combined, and yet we’re only now penetrating it.”_
**”My final question: Why are we not looking at moving out onto the sea? Why do we have programs to build a habitation on Mars and we have programs to look at colonizing the Moon but we do not have a program looking at how we colonize our own planet, and the technology is at hand!”**
He even had a seastead design slide associated with that final statement, pictured at right. We will definitely contact him to ask if he wants to speak at our conference or work with us in some way.
What a salesman. Have Thiel get him on the horn and offer him a fat stream of research money to be an affiliate of TSI.
It looks like the gauntlet has been thrown down! I wish Dr. Ballard the best of luck. If we don’t get out there and soon, we’re gonna’ miss the proverbial boat…
Robert Ballard (in 2002) talking to Alan Alda on “Scientific American Frontiers” about ocean colonization:
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1305/video/watchonline.htm?user2=pbs-saf&template2=publishmain.html&query2=scientific+american+Into+the+Deep&squery2=squery%3D%252BClipID%3A3%2B%252BVideoAsset%3Apbssaf1207&select=2533961&submit2=GO
It’s the “Into The Deep, Part 2” video, and about 80% in… he had models made of a spar buoy design and everything… in 2002!!
__________________________________________________
There is no fate but what we make for ourselves. Each to his fate.