Boys and Girls in Space

I think in the early days of Space colonization (the next 200 years
or so) there will be 2 different types of settlements:

1. Those control exclusively by governments/ big business

2. Those founded by individuals seeking to create their "ideal" society.

The government controlled ones will focus on manufacturing, science
and space exploration plus canned tourism, and immigrants from Earth
will likely need an employer to sponsor them. Laws and customs will
be very much like Earth's and consumer trade will be common.

The private ones, like John Wayne's and others will soon follow, and
I'm sure they will include many examples of governments and cultures
and rules that are offensive to others. Some too strict, some too
liberal. Many will fail and be forced to change their approach.
Others will fail and be taken over by Earth governments in order to
save the lives of the colonists. Others will fail utterly and the
colonists will have to be rescued, if possible. Some will actually
survive in a form similar to the founder's original idea.

Right now we have no idea what space colonization will mean. We
compare it the sea, or the colonization of the Americas, but we just
don't know. Our cultures and values are very different than they were
in the colonial era. Our technology and communications are different.
Our expectations are different. One thing we know for sure from
history is that we learn much more from the failures than we do from
the successes. In fact early success can lead to many false
assumptions. I appreciate John's idea for colonization, although it
sounds like I would definitely be excluded from it, and probably
would not want to be stuck in a can with a bunch of millionaires,
anyway. But I also recognize that any successful space settlement
these first 200 years will likely have to be pretty Draconian early
on since we are most definitely going "where no man has gone before."

just my opinion, but I'm usually wrong

doug

On Jun 26, 2006, at 6:11 AM, ANTIcarrot wrote: