Could Legal 'Loophole' Lead to

On 4/11/12 5:12 PM, Lucio de Souza Coelho wrote:

> > No, please read the proposal. When you establish a permanent colony,
> > you can claim 3.6 million mi^2 (9.3 million km^2) around it. That's a
> > lot, but it's nowhere near "all of Mars" (it's less than 1/15 of the
> > total surface area).
>
> That still seems kind of too much in a historical perspective. It is more
> than the continental United States and at the time of its colonization
> there were pieces from England, France and Spain.
>
> On the other hand, it is just a bit more than Brazil and the Portuguese
> somehow managed to grab all of it. (Indeed totally violating the Treaty of
> Tordesillas and
> stealing a lot of land that supposedly should belong to the Spaniards.)
>
> Of course I am probably comparing bananas to oranges, in theory colonists
> of a given planet could monitor all the comings and goings on the surface
> with just a handful of satellites, and send forces to detain invaders.

These are interesting points. I do think it's in the nature of
technology to make the world (any world!) a smaller place. If you look
at it not in terms of linear distance, but (say) how long it takes some
physical force to cross, all of Mars would be much smaller now than
North America was then. (Though by the same measure, Mars is still
further away than the Americas were to Europe... but the Moon is much
closer.)

Best,
- Joe