Boys and Girls in Space

--- In spacesettlers, jwsmith42000 wrote:

> I warned you that if you ventured there you would make yourself look
> foolish.

You warned somebody else of that. And some risks are worth taking.

> Who said anything about governments.

You have set yourself up as the guy who makes the rules.
"Don't like how I think: go elsewhere."
Now, I like to think that I'm too honest a guy to pull something like
this, but let me put it this way: My wife and I come aboard. We sign
whatever you put in front of us. Once we are aboard, we state that we
in fact will not be having any children, and what are you going to do
about it. Do you have the authority to kick us out of your habitat?
Do you have any way of backing up that authority should we refuse to
leave? If the answer to both questions is "yes," then you are by
definition the government.

And don't say that you'll just sue me in Earth court. If we are a few
hundred kilometres to a few light years away from Earth, then they
probably won't bother to send the cops. And if you *are* able to do
this, then you are under the authority of some Earth government, and
your ability to to pull "my way or the hyway" stuff with how many
children a woman bears is going to be quite limited.

> These would be personal performance contracts and would have a
> definite stated lifetime. 50 years at most, more likely
> 30 years or until the signatory dies or fulfills the terms thereof.
> Believe me there will be many signatories who will be willing to pay
> upward of US$25,000,000.00 to place their signatures on such a
> document.

This I believe. Especially if you are the only game in town. If you
are not, however...

> The local government would be established by the second and third
> generations all of whom would NOT be signatories to such contracts.

Your society isn't going to be an anarchy for the first generation.
Not if you can somehow enforce a "have three kids" law.

>> Expect a lot of others to go elsewhere also. A lot of qualified
>> people who could help you build the thing, not just noskill joes
>> like me.

> You seem to have little idea of what it would take to make an
> orbital or planetary society work.

Well, you might have something there. I certainly won't be nominating
myself as habitat govenor.

> We certainly have a different view than most people as to what it
> would take.
> You may not be such a "no skill joe".
> You may be the kind of person who will make any colony a success.

It would be nice to discover that I'm a valuble addition to a habitat
population. And that the habitat I'm valuble to isn't going to run my
life right down to how many babies my wife and I make.

But if I'm so valuable, I can hope that some other habitat recognises it.