Re: Extropian space colony (Was: What Extropians can do)

From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Mon Aug 06 2001 - 12:30:09 MDT


John Grigg wrote:
> It is one thing for them to send a missle, rocket, beam or asteroid
> against us, because we have every right to defend against that. But,
> for Earth to send a "friendly" group of enforcement spacecraft over
> to pay us a visit is quite another thing.
>
> Unless absolutely sure of malevolence(and of winning the fight), we
> must allow them to visit and inspect our facilities. And if we say
> no, they attack. Permanent inspectors(human and machine) could be
> left to continue monitoring.

Why? It's the same as trespassing. Our colony would be our territory
(and quite possibly the space around it, either up to 3 miles citing
"territorial waters", or up to whatever the airspace ceiling is at the
time). If we were independent, and not signatory to any treaty stating
that no space property may be sovereign, then we would be fully within
our rights to treat any visitors as guests of our state who may be
expelled at our whim, much like diplomats. (Spies disguised as
immigrants would be another issue, but presumably we would have a legal
regime that does not allow any few citizens to destroy the entire
colony or otherwise halt our research, whether those citizens be
foreign agents or merely the deluded crazies that such a colony would
inevitably attract.) If they leave, only to turn around and attack
ship-to-colony, we could handle that like any other such attack.

If they try to board...well, as advanced as even the US military is, we
could gain an advantage with some research into weapons and gear for
dedicated space infantry (i.e., troops trained to fight only in a space
station, not in jungles or cities or any environment inside a natural
gravity well). Say, weapons designed to work in zero G. Plus, they
would be at a training disadvantage since the "terrain" would allow for
infantry only, not vehicles of any kind (at least inside the colony),
and in an environment they would likely never have fought a real battle
in (even if they set up their own base/colony specifically for space
war games).

> I only see a colony being developed if things really go bad here on
> earth, and the tech to go off-planet is cheap and reliable. In a
> mass exodus we would have a chance.
>
> I love the nation of my birth and hope its leaders will steer away
> from the course they seem to be taking in regards to biotech. I
> wonder what else they may lose nerve about down the road! :( When I
> go into space one day, I want to do so as a proud American citizen.

I hear you, and share your hope. But, just in case, I will try to
develop that cheap, reliable off-planet access tech, and support others
who are doing likewise. (Besides, such would be far from the only use
of said tech.)

> This post brings back very fond memories of my time at the Extro! :)
> I was privy to some great conversations there.

Thanks. ^_^ I've been trying to steer most of what threads I post to
in that direction.



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