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Everyone's excited about rockets to Mars, and each SpaceX launch brings that dream closer to reality. Musk and others are putting a lot of money and brainpower on the technical problem of getting people to Mars. Less sensational topics, such as surviving on Mars, receive less attention — but plenty of money and serious thought, because there's no way to get around them.
But there's another important question which isn't getting much attention:
Who will own Mars, and how will it be governed?
Does Mars belong to the people who get there first? To the highest bidder? To all the people of Earth?
Does Mars belong to Earth, or does Mars belong to Mars? Does it belong to the Sun? To the Martian microbiome, if there is one? (What are the indigenous rights of microbes, I wonder?)
Who will be in charge of Mars once the colonists arrive? If Mars turns out to have valuable resources, who gets them? And if a Mars colony is to govern itself, what kind of government would it have?
The Mars colonization project is driven by the ultra rich. And those who want to stake their claim on Mars may rather the rest of us didn't think too much about the little problem of who owns the planet next door, and why.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Friday March 31 2017, @06:38PM (16 children)
You libertarian extremists are so stupid. Your contract is useless against my guns (or kinetic projectiles dropped from orbit). How do you propose to prevent people with guns taking your stuff? Maybe you'll join up with a some other people for a common defense. But the enemy has a lot of guns, so you'll need to join up with a lot of other people to have enough resources to build an army to oppose your enemy. What should we call this organization of people who have joined together and share resources? Oh yeah, it's called a "government".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:02PM
My violently imposed monopoly can beat your violently imposed monopoly! 😝
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:17PM (5 children)
An organization is a "government" when it allocates resources by coercion rather than agreement; that's the whole point of having a robust system of law by contracts, the enforcement of which is itself a service that is implemented in a market of competing service providers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:27PM
You have a lot of growing up to do along with a lot of learning about human nature.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 31 2017, @10:11PM (3 children)
And when I decide not to honor that contract I signed?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @12:30AM
That's not very angelic of you, now is it?! :)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @03:22AM (1 child)
Then the people I contracted with to enforce my contracts will coerce you to honor the contract. And if those people don't honor that contract, then the people I contracted with to enforce the contract with the people I contracted with to enforce the contract with you will coerce them to coerce you. It's contracts all the way down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @01:53PM
Yeah, same argument can be made about money: it's a contract of debt. And nobody ever welches on a debt, do they?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 31 2017, @07:24PM (2 children)
One thing is for sure. Even without guns. Once on Mars, people will find ways of killing each other. And for the same reasons as on Earth. Even when there are few people at first and lots of land. It will ultimately come down to politics. But MY WAY of how everyone should live is the right way.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:31PM (1 child)
The reason the "west" cannot export democracy to the third world is because there is a cultural mismatch.
The same holds here: There is not yet a "libertarian" culture strong enough to reinforce a market of binding agreements through reverence of contracts. However, that will be the way of the future; it's either that, or stagnation followed by some kind of destruction.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 01 2017, @08:29AM
"Exporting democracy" is newspeak for implementing a political system controlled by money. With the export of democracy comes the destruction of infrastructure, with that comes the aid, and the debt, and the forced international agreements, and suddenly whoever you vote for is irrelevant.
Aristocracy/strong classes and systems of values are competitors of such a democracy, while dictators and monarchy are easier to control/own.
Account abandoned.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:27PM (3 children)
I guess "Troll" means "Disagree"? Assholes.
An organization is a "government" when it allocates resources by coercion rather than agreement; that's the whole point of having a robust system of law by contracts, the enforcement of which is itself a service that is implemented in a market of competing service providers, which is the strongest form of separation of powers.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:30PM
Not assholes, people just tired of you spouting the same phrase on every story. You have received more than enough replies to your naive attempt to re-create the wheel. Maybe save your rhetoric for a story titled "How to Restructure Government" or something more applicable. In case you missed reality, governments have these things called treaties, basically the "system of contracts" you're looking for. People != computer programs, never gonna happen.
(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Friday March 31 2017, @07:41PM (1 child)
BTW, your posts will keep being marked redundant when their content is essentially identical to another of your comments at the same level of the same thread, with a parenthetical gripe about moderation as the only addition.
If you want to gripe about bad mods, go ahead; do it as a response to the poorly-modded comment and don't bother quoting the parent. You may still get modded down, but at least it won't be a "redundant" mod.
PS - not posting anonymously, because I'd rather you know this is coming from the same guy who took some time to give you a thought-out response instead of a terse dismissal. I'm trying to be constructive here; please post better so we can talk more easily.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday April 01 2017, @03:23PM
The problem is, I think he not only believes what he's saying (and can't see the flaws), but also thinks it's relevant almost everywhere. If he's a teen this is natural and he'll grow out of this with more experience, but some people never do. I think I became a case hardened cynic by my mid-twenties. Since then, only the flavor of cynicism has changed.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:36PM
I guess "Troll" means "Disagree"? YOU make it "Redundant".
An organization is a "government" when it allocates resources by coercion rather than agreement; that's the whole point of having a robust system of law by contracts, the enforcement of which is itself a service that is implemented in a market of competing service providers, which is the strongest form of separation of powers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @08:52AM
If you need a good example of contract versus gun, look at how the settlers of the USA took stuff from the native Americans.
We had that "Manifest Destiny" thing going, and the native Americans had a choice... give us their land for trinkets, or we will fight them for it. But it was "civilized", They had "a choice."
Now, if the native Americans had some superior weapons, or knew more about how to instigate diseases amongst the wielders of the gun, this whole thing would have turned out quite differently.
The French had the same experience... they aristocracy piddled around with their pens and papers, subjugating the minions, until the minions had enough and decided to reset the system. The last I heard, the aristocracy went down, still wagging their pens, trying to entice the Swiss to enforce their pen-waggings.