Space Opinions Survey

[True Blue Door]

16. Absolutely, at least in some places.

We could expect, however, that the social and political fabric of space colonies would not be monolithic. I find it fun to speculate about forms it would take in what places, and within the same context. E.g., what the spread of political ideologies would look like on Mars, and what kind geographies they would respectively gravitate toward.

My speculations tend toward a few broad strokes over the long-term:

For Mars: Miners and plains people - conservative, exploitative, competitive. Hill, mountain, canyon people - liberal, environmentalist, urban, more interested in education beyond the practical (e.g., artistic), economically rich but more interested in applying than increasing it.

For the Moon: Undboutedly some day property on the Moon facing Earth would cost a lot more than property on the Far Side, for the views. And within the Earth-facing side, the most expensive views would occur along a ring that have the Earth in the most aesthetically pleasing angle of the sky, neither so high that you have to crane your neck, nor so low that it looks strange and unimportant. So I would expect the Near side to be richer and more conservative, and yet more environmentally preservationist to preserve the view of the Moon from Earth, while the Far Side could be anything - perhaps more frontierlike and developmental.

Free-space colonies that have to be completely built and regulated artificially must be strictly controlled, so there is a danger with those of becoming oligarchical or even totalitarian. After all, when a government knows - and most know - every minute detail of your life down to your breathing and defecation, and can use that information regulate everything from the mineral content of your water to the ionization of the air you breathe, the potential for abuse is massive. So if there end up being thousands of free-floating station-states out there, any number of them could be gruesomely tyrannical or just highly exploitive (like living in a bad time-share condo with hidden fees everywhere). Some, of course, if they were begun with the highest moral virtues in mind, and designed and managed pragmatically to take care of where reality meets ideals, could be functionally utopian, and full of life and intellectual brilliance.

My sense is that gas giant moon colonies will end up being so rich that they'll become very insular and accultured rather than enterprising , like the Virginia colony became - not a bad or brutal society like the Deep South, but inward-looking and not very interested in change, somewhat suspicious of the more active societies in other regions.

Asteroid Belt colonies, though, I think will become like the new Aegean. So many permutations, so much rapid feedback, economic interaction, and recombination of peoples and ideas. You'd end up with various alliances and leagues; the hyper-democratic, benevolent ones; the defensive, neutral ones; and the horrifying, predatory, despotic ones. Lots of fun to imagine.