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

Robert,

Sorry for not replying immediately but my work sometimes takes me away at
short and sometimes zero notice, this can interfere with answering the mail,
one of the reasons I do not often respond to messages in the list.

On 30/5/06 4:48 AM, "Robert" wrote:

>> You dont need a PhD to be a genius, mind you the possession of one
> does
>> tend to indicate a certain amount of intellect, not always of course
>>
> unfortunately this not considered the case when your talking to ppl
> about space inventions and stuff. if you don't have a PhD, then you
> cant possible understand space. Ive attempted to talk to ppl about a
> new non chemical engine, but this is as far as it gets.
>>

What can I say, people are people and we are all at times guilty of acting
in a manner that can be described as less than perfect. While I do not
defend anybody refusing to at least listen to an argument, it is in a way
understandable (if not acceptable). At this point in time the only practical
way to get to orbit is to use chemical rockets, I am sure that this will
change but I can not say when or how. Given that, why bother to talk about
other ways to orbit. As I said, understandable, even if wrong.

>>
>> Asimov was born in Russia and with his family moved to America when
> he was
>> three, in 1921 (I think), he was not British, definitely American.
> Now I
>> have had a look around the web and I cant find any reference to
> him being
>> Knighted, it wasnt a long search but given were I looked I would
> have
>> expected some mention of a Knighthood.
>> Maybe you are thinking of Sir Arthur C Clark, he is British.
>>
> i have found reverences that indicate that he was given an honorary
> knight ship rather than a full "real" one. in many of the places i
> have goggled, they refer to him as Sir Isaac Asimov. I'm guessing
> that to get a real one you have to be British.

There is no British law stopping an American from accepting a knighthood, it
is the American constitution that does that, I can't remember which part, it
has been a while since I read it. I would be interested in any references to
where and when Asimov obtained a gong, if you can supply a reference,
please!

>> The rape case you mention, that is a cause for worry, even if he
> was guilty
**SNIP**
>>
> two problems with this. there was evidence but in America the rules
> strongly favor the suspect. let me see if i can remember enough for
> you to understand.

I have been in law enforcement for 18 years, your rules are different but
not that much.

> one of the things with it was that during a trial they brought in
> panties with both his and a victims DNA. it was thrown out of court
> because it was found 2 feet outside of his property, and the search
> warrant was for only the property. other evidence was thrown out

If it was outside his property, then I assume that it was either somebody
else's property or public land. Public land should have been no problem, as
for another private property, well if they were not being accused it is hard
to understand why they would object. There is of course one other
possibility, it was a second block of land that he owned and wasn't covered
by the warrant.

> because the search warrant did not include the closet of his garage.

This is all too understandable and comes down to poor preparation.

> the one conviction that came years later had the same m.o. as the
> other 25. when the feds nailed AL Capone, they were happy to get him
> for tax evasion since it got him to jail for the same lifetime as any
> of the other crimes would have. the da in this case, I'm sure,
> would have been just as happy to send him to jail for life for wire
> cutters as for the 26 rapes.

Here we part company, even if he was guilty, even if he was the worst kind
of rapist or even a murderer, then you just have to take it. Is this fair,
is it just? Not at all but the law is not about justice, it is about rules,
I have sat in court and watched as people I know are guilty are given a pass
and allowed to walk from the court, did I like it? Not a bit but rather that
than open the door to the possibility of an innocent going to gaol (jail for
the Americans out there :). Now to bring this back on topic, the greatest
aspect of space habitats is that it allows people to try a wide variety of
social norms. I am guessing here (and I am not judging and I do not mean to
offend, so correct me if I am wrong) but I take you to be the kind of person
who has a strong sense of justice believes in the "right" thing even when it
breaks the laws, perhaps you sit to the right of centre on the political
scale. Now none of those are bad but I can see where with the best of
intentions people with these beliefs can bend the rules to bring about
justice and end up doing the reverse. Mind you, following the rules can also
do that, nothing is perfect but being selfish I prefer that the system
commit the error, not me.

> the other thing is that after the statue of limitation ran out, he
> admitted not only the 26 the police knew about, but 3 more. he
> laughed at them because if he had not had as good a lawyer, he would
> have had sentences that would have lasted several times his life
> time. as it is he might possible get out and continue his life of
> crime before hes 60.

Then you just have to grin and bear it. This does not help the next victim,
a tragedy but it is the price of a society of rules, if you don't like the
rules, change them, if your society won't let you, then you bow to the
majority or you leave and with space habitats you can do that.

So what if he confessed, I have sat down opposite a person who confessed to
a crime, they had details and knowledge that was convincing, I was sure they
had done it. But here it takes more than a confession to convict, if that's
all you have, well that's what you go with but you always look for more and
when we looked we found the real perpetrator. This is why you don't take the
easy way out, lazy investigators and crazy laws can put people into prison
but will it be the right people? Do you want the responsibility of putting
the wrong person in a cell? Or how about the reverse, how can you convince
me that you were not going to use those wire cutters for a crime? Justice is
great when it's the other guy but sucks when it's your arse on the line.

Habitats, that's the answer, you can have your social norms and I can have
mine, I think mine are better but that's the way it goes isn't it?

Again, I apologise for taking so long to get back to you and offer my
apologises in advance if it happens again.

Darren