# is there any resources on earth that you can't get elsewhere in the solar system? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-resources-on-earth-that-you-cant-get-elsewhere-in-the-solar-system/727455 "2015-08-10T15:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-resources-on-earth-that-you-cant-get-elsewhere-in-the-solar-system/727455/61 "2015-08-12T14:15:51Z")
See, this is why you guys are stuck in those R&D positions. My crew has already landed, we’re draining the oceans right now, we’ve located and consumed your entire supply of our favorite condiment we call Mama’s Super Sweet, you call it plutonium I think. We’ll be sitting down to a dinner of hoppity-hops, what we call those two-legged things that are running all over this planet. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-resources-on-earth-that-you-cant-get-elsewhere-in-the-solar-system/727455/62 "2015-08-15T06:50:59Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > [hijack]Can anyone recommend good scifi about a society that survives almost entirely in deep space? It seems that if you can get the basic resources you need from asteroids, comets, etc., then gravity wells are just a trap. I recall that the Hyperion Cantos had the Ousters, with “orbital forests” of solar panels and “comet farms” but there wasn’t a lot of focus on them.[/hijack] Well, there’s also [_The Integral Trees_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Integral_Trees), but that’s kinda cheating. I also can’t help but wonder how much good marketing—to sufficiently alien markets—might make Earth resource harvesting profitable. “Water? Big deal, Gorblatt, I can get all I want of that from a planetesimal cloud…” “Ah! But this is _biosphere_ water…every single molecule of _this_ water is guaranteed to have _passed through an organism_ at some point!” “Oh WOW! _Take_ my money!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-resources-on-earth-that-you-cant-get-elsewhere-in-the-solar-system/727455/63 "2015-08-15T08:06:26Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Well, there’s also [_The Integral Trees_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Integral_Trees), but that’s kinda cheating. That is a pretty bleak one. Surviving as opposed to living. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-resources-on-earth-that-you-cant-get-elsewhere-in-the-solar-system/727455/64 "2015-08-15T08:20:26Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > [hijack]Can anyone recommend good scifi about a society that survives almost entirely in deep space? It seems that if you can get the basic resources you need from asteroids, comets, etc., then gravity wells are just a trap. I recall that the Hyperion Cantos had the Ousters, with “orbital forests” of solar panels and “comet farms” but there wasn’t a lot of focus on them.[/hijack] Bruce Sterlings Shaper/Mechanist universe stories are entirely about two societies that have colonised the solar system in orbitals, have no trade with earth and disdain to live on planets. > **[Schismatrix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaper/Mechanist_universe)** > > Schismatrix (/skɪzˈmætrɪks/) is a science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling, originally published in 1985. The story was Sterling's only novel-length treatment of the Shaper/Mechanist universe. Five short stories preceded the novel and are published together with it in a 1996 edition entitled Schismatrix Plus. Schismatrix was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1985, and the British Science Fiction Award in 1986. > The main character, Abelard Lindsay, is born in the ancient lunar colo... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-resources-on-earth-that-you-cant-get-elsewhere-in-the-solar-system/727455.md?page=3)