Don Davis article

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, sraj wrote:
>-snip-
Even Don Davis' article does not articulate the need with
> sufficient force.
>

Perhaps, but the article was heavily edited for length, including my
rationale for motivating some people to consider the idea worthwhile.
Below is that portion of the original version:

Human society, even in so-called 'free nations', through
organizational necessity allows less individual freedom the denser the
population becomes, and there are now practically no new nations
created on Earth without episodes of bloodshed. Short of starting
revolutions and getting killed there are few options available besides
moving to other established countries with less perceived such
problems. People are now discouraged from dreaming about setting up a
new land somewhere as various ideological and religious groups have
historically done. The very concept seems ridiculous now at best and
inviting government surveillance at worst. As society tries to
assimilate anything counter to its interests and gets better at
enforcing its demands upon individuals we will steadily have the
initiative which once made us great bred and burned out of us. Social
circles actively opposed to such assimilation will find more of their
time devoted to avoiding measures to detect and eradicate them.
There is at the present time many individuals who would welcome a
place to go where new ways of life could be tried, just as the early
European settlers of the United States often desired to start anew
without the religious and legal impositions of the places they were
tired of living in. If enough people could be convinced that there was
a chance to leave whatever things you hate about society behind and
help start over with a new nation aligned to your passions, I submit
this could stir the remnants of the pioneer spirit still slumbering in
many. Space Nations representing the interests of any group large
enough to establish a society could proliferate, forming isolated
societies drifting physically and socially on their own paths with no
one but themselves to blame if they can't manage things. If freedom is
considered the greatest ideal of Human existence, the time to look for
it on Earth is dwindling but it is not yet an impossible ideal to
strive for if we seek it in a novel way.
I regard this dream of starting new societies with widespread
space migration into multiplying space habitats as the greatest long
term hope for Humanity for this reason above all. This is the best
long term prospects for people who hope to preserve some kind of
cultural identity and personal freedom in the future in a kind of
'frontier life' within vast habitats ultimately able to comfortably
house millions. Once large colonies are self replicating, a lot of
'open space' will open up for settlement and I think people who have
an interest in 'starting anew' with whatever society a group can agree
upon should be encouraged to rally to this cause. As such future
societies inevitably subdivide in their views those who wish can
simply move into the next O'Neill colony on the assembly line rather
than fight over territory as we do on Earth. Presumably many diverse
groups would like a chance to live the way they want and some of these
would opt for severe religious societies I would want no part of, such
as the Puritans or the Teliban. Because I think some societies are not
for me are no grounds for saying they shouldn't exist, indeed having
'hard core' movements migrate off world may be the best solution to
mutual problems between factions of society rather than living with
simmering hatreds and periodic warfare.

Don