Sod Huts in Space [was: Vulnerability of SpaceSettlements to Attack]]

The following post, from another discussion list, relates to two currentthreads here.
Subject:
[Starship_Forum] Sod Huts in Space [was: Vulnerability of SpaceSettlementsto Attack]
Date:
Wed, 10 Oct 2001 10:45:13 -0600
From:
Monart Pon
Reply-To:
Starship_Forum@yahoogroups.com
To:
Starship_Forum@yahoogroups.com
References:

Dennis May wrote (10/6) about the vulnerability of a physically centralizedspace settlement to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), like physicallycentralized settlements on Earth are now. He proposes a "sod huts" approach.
The "Sod Huts" approach is the answer to avoidingthe pitfalls of centralization both in exposure to WMD [Weapons of MassDestruction] and inconsistent economic support from welfare states. When people settled the sod prairie of Nebraska they didn't have an elaborateinfrastructure to fall back on. They started out with the bare minimumand built up
from there. They traded for other goods when they could but selfsufficiency was a necessity not a goal.
If the settlement of space includes a "sod huts" approach, it wouldn'tbe because alternative, large scale schemes would fail due to unreliablegovernment tax support. In the first place, private settlement of spaceshould be just that, private, without using tax money taken by governmentforce. (At the same time, if it's possible for opponents of taxation torecover some of the money as restitution for the legalized robbery, thatwould be justice and be proper too.) The movement of private people intospace would not be dependent on forcing others to support them via taxes.It would be dependent on the those people's own work and investment. Howeverlong this private approach might take, it would be the honest and sureway.
Within the overall movement into space, there may be some people whowould take the "sod hut" approach, i.e., they would, like the Americanpioneers did, create their own little self-sufficient habitats of whateversize of living space they choose to afford. These privacy seeking groupsmight choose a more secluded settlement for many reasons, one of whichis to lessen the risk of WMD that Dennis warned about. Another reason mightbe that some people prefer solitude.
What is a "Sod Hut" in space terms. Myvision is that of ice caves on the North Pole of Mars and some of the variousice moons. Nuclear reactors provide the bare minimum to get you startedand civilization starts again from there....
While some people may prefer solitude, and might tolerate a lower qualityof physical comfort to have it, others would not be attracted to the visionof living in ice caves, whether on Mars or a moon. (Even the Eskimos onEarth prefer a modern house to an igloo.) For these people, if their sodhut couldn't be their own small but spacious and comfortable habitat free-floating,free-flying in space, they would build a sod hut within one of the giganticcountry-size habitats, but in a area that's far from urban centers. Thesepeople recognize and prefer the technological and environmental advantagesof living in free space, and not be trapped on a planet or moon surface.
Monart
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