[wcoenen]

> there are also strong physical laws that imply the scarcity of gold.

Heavy elements are scarce because of the way they are formed. But they are even more scarce in the earth's crust because heavier elements tend to sink to the core during planet formation. This means that gold and other heavy elements are probably a lot less scarce in metallic asteroids.

Now if I see that NASA is planning to capture a small asteroid in a few years[1] and there are private companies thinking about asteroid mining[2], then I start to wonder whether gold is still going to be valuable in a decade or two.

[1] http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-04-05/news/os-nasa-...

[2] http://www.planetaryresources.com/