[net.space] Why build in space?

HPM@S1-A@sri-unix (09/19/82)

From: Hans Moravec <HPM at S1-A>
The main reason for space as opposed to planetary residence, as I
see it, is that there is a lot more space than planetary surface,
and its condition is more predictable.  The moon can support maybe
the equivalent of a billion people - but that same material
dispersed into free orbiting colonies can support maybe a thousand
times as many.  Eventually the sun is surrounded by an obscuring
cloud of materials-efficient orbiting habitats, a la Dyson, instead
of a paltry handful of profligately materials-wasteful mudballs.