isn't this guy a sci-fi author? When did he become a computer consultant? Does his writing of sci-fi give him the insight of large-scale computing operations?

Let's try to put real news on /. from now on.. please.

"The other alternative is to being exploiting resources from off-planet. Mine the moon. Mine the asteroids. Collect hydrocarbons from the atmosphere of Jupiter. And, absoutely, collect energy from the Sun directly in space."

While your ideas are fantastic and entertaining, the fact is they are currently, and in the near future (e.g. 50-100 years) unrealizable.

We have a major problem of getting off this rock called Earth. Chemical rockets aren't scaling. We can't make them cheap and reliable and big enough. The space elevator is just as entertaining as mining hydocarbons off Jupiter.

I certainly wish I was wrong, but tell us HOW you would do these things, not just that we can do them with today's technology!