zeb haradon wrote:
>
> There's been discussion about the space treaty and how it applies to land
> ownership - who cares?
> Land ownership is a social construction. I own land if a certain amount of
> people around me believe that I own it, meaning that they will not walk on
> it without permission or try to build on it, and that to get these rights,
> they recognize that they need to obtain them from me, and that I may decline
> any contract to do so.
A nation that says you should not be able to "claim" the land could take
action to ruin whatever land you live on (if not by outright military
action, then possibly by sending all kinds of probes to do "experiments"
right in your way, where you touching them or interfering with them in
any way would be an excuse for armed conflict); or, if you set up trade,
or at least resupply, runs with someone still on Earth, then just
interfering with that someone. That they would gain nothing from it is
beside the point: they would feel more secure without someone that does
not report to them living so dramatically outside their perceived reach.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:14:15 MDT