Posted 07.09.2012 at 5:11 pm
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Your DNA Here
Wikimedia Commons
Kickstarter can be a great way for people to help out with projects they care about. Make a small donation, and maybe even get a little trinket for your time. But what about the rich eccentric with money to burn? For 10,000 bucks, they too can help out with a project--and in exchange get their DNA on the moon.
Omega Envoy is a Florida team competing in Google's Lunar X Prize, a race to be the first non-government entity to send a rover to the moon. To raise money for their attempt, they launched a Kickstarter project, and in addition to some relatively mundane items (scale models of the rover, for example), they've added the option to bring a $10,000 philanthropist's DNA on board. They say the "interplanetary backup will ensure the survival of their genetic material independent of conditions here on Earth."
As of right now they've raised about $2,000 out of $200,000, with 17 days to go. That may sound like a lot, but remember, all they need is 20 people really concerned about the safety of their saliva here on Earth.
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Catering to the genetic imperative of the rich. Brilliant.
Wow, I bet that dude's aunt could afford to send her DNA to the moon! Lucky! You should tell her to do it, since she's your roommate's aunt. Which, by the way, is how I knew your story was on the level. Cause that's not so many degrees of separation that it sounded phony and it's not so few that it seemed overly convenient. I'm gonna go check out that site. Thanks, trusted internet friend.
You're a real dirt bag, ter789. I think that was a pyramid scheme.
Here is my kickstarter suggestion. Rather than coming up with a brilliant idea and look for donations of which the donator gets little back in return, I suggest it be one grand partnership and for each dollar amount I donate, I am an owner of this kickstarter goal. Now if my dollar amount ends up to be a tiny percentage, ok, that is the profit I might earn with this venture. But if I donate more, I profit more too. With this kickstarter perspective, all the contributors possiblly become profit winners.
Finally, as a captialistic society, if we can clearly find and decide a manner to be profitable in outer space, it will be at this point we as a society make the decision to establish ourselves in outer space.
I bet you they would get even more takers if they offered to take your PET's DNA to the moon... We all know how extravagant rich people like to get when it comes to their pets. They may even pay extra to send the pet's accessories together with the precious DNA cargo.
The whole DNA part of this is just something to entice those who have more money than sense. The real goal here is to get donations so they can land a rover on the moon.
@Robot
Not sure if being sarcastic or...
>.>
Or describing the stock market exchange....
lanredneck,
I am not a fan of the stock market exhange. But I am a fan of private investors and ownership, which is why I called it a partnership.
Second, I was NOT trying to be sarcastic really. If some type of profit could be clearly establish in humanity establishing itself in space, then yes in short time we humans would move towards living in the cosmos.
@Robot
Kickstarter is just for raising money through gifts (angel investing). They are not looking to sell their business or idea. If you want a part of a company then you need to be part of doing the work.
Also, there are a couple billionaires who have teamed up and have started scoping out asteroids to mine $$$$$.
http://www.newsmax.com/SciTech/mining-asteroids-tech-billionaires/2012/04/23/id/436823