Transportation within a habitiat

--- In spacesettlers@y..., "victoriatangoman"
>
> > When there are billions of people in orbit it really wouldn't be
> hard to
> > foresee millions of cars.
>
> OK. I can't argue with you on the possibility of foreseeing such an
> outcome. But consider that we won't instantly go from our
lifestyles
> today here on earth, to a situation where there are billions of
> people in orbit wanting the lifestyle we have today.
>
> I believe it would be more likely that orbital societies will
> evolve. They'll start small, with everything within walking
> distance, and with no public transportation. As their size grows, I
> think the first step will be some form of mass transit. At this
> stage they'll have to import the equipment or develop domestic
> manufacturing for it. I'll argue that these orbital societies will
> evolve with a mindset unique to their situations and constraints.

I like the idea of building habitats that only house 30000 or so
people. Everything is within easy walking distance, and direct
democracy is possible (as opposed to the representative democracy in
the Western world today). Probably easier to build 33000000 of these
stations than to make Island 3s; take fifty years to build the first,
and then double the number every five years. It would take about 200
years to build enough "lebensraum" for a trillion people.

:) ed