How to get to 10 trillion people in this solar system?

On 5/23/06, Al Globus wrote:
(...)
> In 1971 there were 31 democracies. By 2001 there were 131. The days of
> dictatorial rule are numbered, and it's a small number.

You seem to believe in progressive time, while I believe in Kyklos as
the Ancient Greek did. Just because a great number of countries now
are democracies it does not mean that they will be prevalent till the
end of time, like in an eternal, messianic golden age; I rather
believe in a world that fluctuates among democratic and totalitarian
regimes through the centuries. The notion of Kyklos states that each
kind of government carries the seeds of its own destruction, and in
fact throughout history we have seen examples of democracies becoming
totalitarian regimes often *with the approval of the population* -
ironically, the transition was also democratic...

Also, if you count the *population* living under democracy, the
numbers are not that favorable in today's world.

Finally, democracies too exert some control over reproduction. For
instance, there are democratic countries that allow abortion and
others forbid it. There is no guarantee that in a democratic
government more authoritarian laws regarding reproduction won't be
passed eventually, in the same way that, for instance, there is no
guarantee that a democratic government won't pass laws allowing
government to hear telephone calls.

> In any case, it
> may be difficult to force women in early space colonies to have children,
> which is the issue here.

Well, since you were talking about 10 trillion people I was thinking
about space colonies centuries in the future, not earlier ones.

> Second, in any colony I would be proud to have
> built, the notion of forcing women to have children is repulsive.
(...)

I know that is not beautiful, but that does not change the Darwinian
fact that a society like that might have some advantage in a world of
declining birth rates.