Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/31/hypothetical-mars-colony-wont-recognize-u-s-or-international-law.html
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Works both ways. When does Musk plan to get Mars citizenship and renounce all others?
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LIIIIIIIBERTERIANS IIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!
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Hey Elon, have you thought this all the way through? What are all your EarthBux going to be worth in Mars Free State?
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So Mars will be full of splicers, Little Sisters, and Big Daddies?
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Yeah, why do I feel that this is all going to go… badly. Maybe it was that recent article on the town the Libertarians tried to take over with their principles of self-governing and just how shitty that went. Now stick them all on Mars and… wait a minute…
Actually, this is a great idea, stick them all on Mars and let them try to self-govern. Never mind, I rescind my comment.
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Elon, put down the Heinlein books and back away.
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I firmly believe that Elon Musk is an egotistical, morally bankrupt oligarch that just wants his own personal colony where he owns everything on Mars or wherever the fuck he goes. I and tons of other people fucking knew that he wanted his own Galt’s Gulch on Mars. Trying to separate the person from his corporations is simply not possible at this point.
A little shameless self-promotion, but I made this thread a couple of weeks ago to try and discuss how manned spaceflight in the U.S. has been a mess that’s been at odds with equality and justice and what we could do to fix that. This is the kind of shit that I’m worried about.
I also found this Instagram video by Thomas Cheney for the Centre for a Spacefaring Civilization that discusses the issues around a hypothetical Mars colony. He says that the Outer Space Treaty is written out that states have a responsibility for the actions of their nationals in outer space. So the United States has jurisdiction and responsibility for whatever Musk and his companies do in space and we also can give and revoke licenses. This, at the very least, leaves him and his companies and his colonies wide open to regulation and governance by the U.S… We also probably need to shore up international and national laws and regulations, just to be on the safe side.
This is just me, but I feel like he’s more of an avid reader of Ayn Rand. Maybe he’s read both and that’s where his delusions of grandeur come from.
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Eww space libertarians. The Republic will crush them under our heel!
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Heinlein wrote specifically about cowboy libertarian planets that people founded because they wanted more “freedom”. That’s what I was referencing.
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This is a fun idea. Right now it would be a miracle to get anything going on Mars at all, of course, so this is all a pure hypothetical anyway. But if they did it definitely wouldn’t be self-sufficient. Imagine a settlement completely dependent on shipments of food from its home country, but still insisting their laws don’t apply. How often has that worked out?
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Something about removing the governement health inspection standards for salad bars? Hang on, wrong cult.
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Hmmm… good idea in theory, but refusing to acknowledge any Earth authority seems short-sighted, egotistical, and dangerous. Saying no Earth country has the rights to dictate Martian law is probably mostly fine, but they really should still sign on to International Law and international treaties and agreements. (Geneva Convention, International Maritime Law, etc.).
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I guess they found Galt’s Gulch.
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I know what you mean, but that still struck me as hilarious at first sight.
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Forget women. Mars needs bears.
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Yeah, but a lot of it does translate well into outer space (ships, wreckage, salvage, etc.), so it’s a good fit.
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What delusions of grandeur? The guy has his own space program. That’s the reality of grandeur in my book.
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