What will harvesting resources from space do to Earth's economy?

It's time to start thinking about this, because it's definitely coming, sooner or later.

There's an asteroid in our solar system that's been dubbed Psyche. Initial analysis estimated that the metals it's made of would be worth $10,000 quadrillion, and needless to say, there isn't that much money on this planet (there's roughly $37 trillion in circulation, for one frame of reference).

Now scientists suspect that the asteroid might be worthless (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9702053/Asteroid-believed-worth-10-000-quadrillion-just-pile-rubble-study-suggests.html), but that's beside the point.

At some point, someone will go into space, capture an object of unfathomable value, and bring it back to Earth. To sell it.

What happens at that point -- when someone suddenly has 10, 100, one million times as much money as the rest of the world has?

I think the only way for things to carry on as they are today is for everyone to basically ignore that someone has, for example, a 100-ton lump of gold.

Sticking with that example, if that gold enters the market, basic economics tells us that the price of gold will plummet, making space mining seem a rather worthless endeavor for the amount of effort and resources it will require.

But what happens when it's not a massive expense to bring to Earth all manner of resources from space?

My thought is that space mining could very well usher in what some people call a "post-scarcity society" where, in a nutshell, nothing will have any real monetary value because everything people need or want will be available in ridiculous abundance. And that will either do away with money entirely, or transform it into something completely different.

Does this make sense to anybody else? I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this. Unless I'm talking shit and I've already bored you to death.

Ben wrote:What happens at that point -- when someone suddenly has 10, 100, one million times as much money as the rest of the world has?

Markets will adjust...prices will fall/rise according to availability.

The most important resource is water. Even ET's fly around the universe looking for habitable planets - the first prerequisite is water.

Original Quill wrote:

Ben wrote:What happens at that point -- when someone suddenly has 10, 100, one million times as much money as the rest of the world has?

Markets will adjust...prices will fall/rise according to availability.

The most important resource is water.  Even ET's fly around the universe looking for habitable planets - the first prerequisite is water.

Yeah, the world is 3/4 water and it's still scarce and valuable in many areas.