On 9/27 Tierney’s column in the New York Times (subscription required; the cheapest option is get home delivery and go on permanent vacation hold) again picked up the alt.space agenda of colonization. His advice, “If officials hope to get money for NASA’s new program of manned exploration, I suggest they go to Capitol Hill with a two-word sales pitch: gray goo.”

I second the sentiment that civilization protects and heals itself, but a rich planet can afford a stylish colony just in case the unthinkable happens.