Posted on 02/23/2005 7:06:59 PM PST by KevinDavis
ping me up scottie
Good evening.
Please add me to your list.
Michael Frazier
The new era of colonialism is about to begin. I'll book a ticket new for Mars. It is the Red Planet and that is the way I like it.
Tourism won't colonize space. Space will be developed through robotics, but the issue is still the same--lack of private property rights. No private property rights = no private space development and tourism isn't it.
I prefer a one way trip to Alpha Centauri...
A colony would require some kind of sovereign power. There isn't any sovereign power in outer space, by law.
In colonization, the first trick is simple survival. That means communities working hard together, like the early Pilgrims. It is only after survival is a given that you have private property rights.
I never bought the idea of space colonization as a cure for overpopulation on Earth. Overpopulation means too many economically unproductive people and the sheer cost of space travel precludes Botany Bay style dumping grounds for Old Bailey riffraff. Nobody is going to spend billions to empty the prisons, mental hospitals, and bus stations of Earth. It would be more like suburban white flight or like "Blade Runner" where the well-to-do have abandoned Earth.
"Space will be developed through robotics"
good point
Pack a big lunch...:-)
Oh, that can be remedied. What is the UN going to do about it? Draft a nasty, terse memo?
A very big lunch!
Won't be any communities in space until the sovereign powers grant charters. The problem is finance. There won't be any finance aside from state finance until there are private property rights. Talking about overpopulation and all that is a red herring.
The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty took care of any sovereignty in outer space. There is none. Forever. That includes private space development, excepting possibly space tourism if they don't touch anything--no souvenirs. Has nothing to do with the UN, the UN is nothing but a venue.
What, no one has ever violated a treaty? I am certain that over thousands of years of human history, somewhat has ignored a treaty or two with few, if any, consequences.
bumpity bumpity
Nope. Treaties are inviolate. If nothing else, the state relies on law. If an individual wishes to operate outside the law, he makes himself an outlaw--the state will track him down.
Article XV
Any State Party to the Treaty may propose amendments to this Treaty. Amendments shall enter into force for each State Party to the Treaty accepting the amendments upon their acceptance by a majority of the States Parties to the Treaty and thereafter for each remaining State Party to the Treaty on the date of acceptance by it.
Article XVI
Any State Party to the Treaty may give notice of its withdrawal from the Treaty one year after its entry into force by written notification to the Depositary Governments. Such withdrawal shall take effect one year from the date of receipt of this notification.
We can either ammend it or withdraw from it. I say we withdraw from it, wait a year, and then open up exploration.
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