The main thing is tourism because Artemis is right next to the Apollo 11 landing site. Also, just dicking around in 1-6th gravity is fun. In 2080, what does a good Cantonese meal on the moon cost? I worked out with my economic stuff. It works out to be about $160, 2015 dollars to the kilogram. 1000 slugs will get you one kilogram transported from Earth to the moon.
Before writing a single word of his new book Artemis, Andy Weir worked out the economics of a lunar colony. Without the economics, how could the story hew to the hard sci-fi style Weir cornered the market on with The Martian? And, more importantly, how else can Tyler find out much a Cantonese meal would run him on the moon?
In addition to these important questions of lunar economics, Andy and Tyler talk about the technophobic trend in science fiction, private space efforts, seasteading, cryptocurrencies, the value of a human life, the outdated Outer Space Treaty, stories based on rebellion vs. cooperation, Heinlein, Asimov, Weir’s favorite episode of Star Trek, and the formula for finding someone else when stranded on a lonely planet.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded November 15th, 2017 Other ways to connect