ISLAND ONE, a prime time family sitcom set on the High Frontier

> The middle east has a lot of money but in too few hands.

How much of an impediment to space is that, and how?

> Australia and New Zealand have plenty of land to support
> their populations so have no need for space.

The role of space colonies as an alternative to scarce land is
important to us as enthusiasts some years before the fact, but is it
really going to be make-or-break for the people setting up to fetch
platinum from an asteroid or get SPS energy or whatever winds up
paying the bills?

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "terrierkeeper"
wrote:
>
> The eastern half of the Roman Empire lasted a thousand years. It
was
> at the time of its fall in its own final stages of decay. It
couldn't
> adapt and it had strong enemies (mainly the Moslems) eating away
at
> its sides. Even if all of its monarchs had been as good as Basil
the
> Macedonian (he was a very interesting fellow, born a peasant, by
> intrigue moved his way up) it would still have fallen. Its upper
> class was as bad as the Russian Nobility was in 1917 having
reduced
> the common people to serfdom.
>
> The only historical events attributable to its fall were the
spread
> of Christianity northward into Russia and the creation of said
> empire. It also helped motivate Western leaders to look across the
> Atlantic towards a new route to the spices of the east. You might
> sday that the fall of Constantinople pushed Christopher Columbus
from
> a Genoan Galley to a Spanish Caravelle.
>
> Personally I believe our way of Government is the best and most
> flexable and should be most able to move into the heavens but not
as
> New States. I think in terms of a New America. Island Twos can
form
> into Counties, with a mayor and council and justices of the peace.
A
> system similar to the way Texas was settled might be adopted. As
> their numbers grow these can then form into states. Each with an
> elected Governor and legislature and a supreme court subject to
> public vote of confidence. Immigration and possibly a growing
birth
> rate creating population. The final step will be when the States
in
> L4 or L5 form a new nation. Indeed we can take this further and
> establish L4 and L5 as new Continents.
>
> Within this framework all things can be disccused. I doubt the
> Europeans or Japan are going to show much interest, they don't
have
> the birthrate (which is a tragedy). If they had gone Fascist back
in
> the forties we would have some real competitian. With growing
> population and desire to prove themselves and hunger for new
> colonies, they would have given uas a real race for space. I doubt
> China will show much interest because they still see themselves as
> the Middle Kingdom. South America has growing population but is
> sinking into Marxism. The middle east has a lot of money but in
too
> few hands. Australia and New Zealand have plenty of land to
support
> their populations so have no need for space.
>
> --- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "absalomdraconis"
> wrote:
> >
> > Well, I have an idea for at least some of the governments that
you
> > might find on various Islands:
> >
> > American Indian Tribes.
> >
> > I'm from Oklahoma, and thus far the tribes mainly just invest,
but I
> > see this as the sort of thing where the tribe ITSELF might do the
> > construction. And really, wouldn't one of the tribes be the
perfect
> > group to do this? They already have a clear voting system, they
have
> > territory down on Earth that they can ship really troublesome
> > individuals down to, they already have a clear membership, and
they
> > already have a clear government (I believe that they still have
> > judges, too). The only place where I, as an Oklahoman, am not
clear
> on
> > their status is law, and that's because they were initilly
> considered
> > a seperate nation, but their lands are now partially subject to
> > Oklahoma law, and partially not subject to Oklahoma law, which
leads
> > to a somewhat confusing situation if you don't actively
investigate
> > the subject, which I thus far haven't.
> >
> > And just in case anyone's curious, yes, the Chiefs of the five
> > 'civilized' tribes are elected too. Have been since before the
Trail
> > of Tears, as I best recall.
> >
> > The only real question I have is how you'd get the Island
considered
> > territory of the particular Tribe and of America. And American
> > soverentity is necassary because my proposed station-exile system
> > would basically depend on American citizenship.
> >
> > As for the maybe ubiqitous personal worn computer, I expect that
it
> > would just be called a PDA. A link would just be a name for the
> > generic data connection, which would probably be a high-speed
> wireless
> > LAN system. Incidentally, your PDA would probably BE your
telephone,
> > because you can use VOIP technology in such situations.
> >
> > And terrierkeeper, I don't suppose you'd be interested in
writing a
> > 'what if the Byzantine Empire never fell' story, would you? As
best
> I
> > can tell, World Wars 1 & 2 and a bunch of others can be
attributed