Habitat Contamination - Warning: Rambling Ahead!

--- In spacesettlers@y..., Lucio de Souza Coelho wrote:
> From: "Al Globus"
> To:
> Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 2:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [spacesettlers] Habitat Contamination - Warning:
Rambling
> Ahead!
> (...)
> > Assuming that eventually there will be a lot of colonies, I
strongly
> > suspect there will be a great diversity of social systems.
> (...)
>
> Moreover, assuming that colonization goes beyond Cislunar Space,
the limit
> of light speed and the vast distances will avoid "instantaneous"
transport
> and communication, avoiding cultural homogenization (like the one
in
> progress on Earth) and stimulating cultural/social/political
> diversification.
>
> Lucio Coelho

I agree with you only if we were presented with a multitude of
Habitats. But let's restrict our viewpoint to just the first one or
two.

I think you hit the nail right on the head. The distance for human
transport and the time lag will create an impediment to cultural
homogenization. Speech patterns, lingo, accents will develop in
relation to the more isolated environment. Yes, you'll get movies,
songs, newscasts, video games and TV entertainment from earth. But
your day to day, minute to minute interactions will be with people
in the Habitat. In terms of strength of influence, I'd say the
immediate will have a larger impact then the external. Doesn't do
teenagers much good to try to follow the lastest fad on Earth if
they can't get hair dye, or tattoo needles, etc. Rather, they'll
adapt and do what the coolest kid in the class does to set himself
apart. Their fads will be local.

Same with speech patterns. They'll adapt to local conditions and
influences. Let's say that English is the language of choice, but
the immigrants come from many nations on the Earth. Right now I can
distinguish the English that's spoken by Americans, Australians,
Canadians, English, Scottish, Irish, Kiwis, New Englanders, New
Yorkers, Newfoundlanders, Acadians, Native Americans, American born
Hispanics, American born Asians, Texans, etc. Now imagine an English
that is equally influenced by German, French, Spanish, Japanese,
Mandarin, etc. No matter how much Star Trek, NYPD Blue, Sopranos,
Nightly News with Tom Brokaw we watch in the Habitat, I doubt we'll
speak English like TV English.

Same for customs. I don't know that many people in the West who
would know the significance of bringing a bowl of oranges to a new
housewarming party. But I could see that custom being adopted up in
a Habitat. Further, I could see many new customs developing to new
conditions.

As to one of my original questions: rampant individualization in a
society. I really have trouble seeing homelessness being an issue in
orbit. Heroin addiction? Cocaine addication? Can someone make a case
why things will be the same up there as they are down here? Please.
I'm blocked and can't reason out how that would come about.

Now, if there are only one or two Habitats, do we want to
intentionally release molds, viruses, pestulance into the
environment? Here on Earth, many of the newer houses in North
America are fighting toxic mold syndrome. If we can't control the
growth of mold in orbit, do we want to be continually scrubbing down
the HUGE solars in order to slow mold growth? Why introduce mold at
all?

Same question for the other diseases. Why introduce them if we can
screen them out?

And to make the contamination leap complete, why introduce cultural
contamination? Look at how the French are battling mightily to
preserve their French culture against the onslaught of American Pop
culture. Surely, the Habitat would develop local customs.

TangoMan