In the GNU manifesto (`http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html') there
is a paragraph reading:
In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the
post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard
just to make a living. People will be free to devote
themselves to activities that are fun, such as programming,
after spending the necessary ten hours a week on required
tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot repair and
asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able to make
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
a living from programming.
Now for the question. What does "asteroid prospecting" mean in this
context. There is a German translation talking of "watching"
(`beobachten') but I feel this is a wrong translation. I suppose RMS
talks more of exploiting asteroids by mining their minerals or perhaps
looking for asteroids to mine them afterwards.