Re: future Interplanetary Civilization discussion.
A while back someone posted a very long and very interesting article/ discourse from "Culture" author Iain M Banks, that was quite appropriate to this thread.
Basically, he said that his Culture universe had grown up the way it is because once people have the ability to travel freely in space and create their own living environments wherever they like, then all society will tend towards anarchy.
His reasoning is that it will suddenly become very difficult to impose control on populations. If people don't like what you're telling them to do then all they have to do is pack up and live somewhere else. There's no shortage of living space out there, and when people can move freely in 3 dimensions it's very hard to wall them in and stop them escaping your influence. You could chase them down, but in the end all you can do is threaten to destroy them and- ultimately- such destruction would be against your own interests.
I think he is thinking a few hundred years of technology ahead of this thread (basically he requires that energy is plentiful, space travel is fairly trivial and sustainable long term living conditions can be artificially created in space or on some dead world), but overall I think his is a very sensible concept, and it might yet come to pass.
It certainly would be nice to have unlimited living space- You could solve half the world's conflicts overnight. Imagine saying to the Palestinians and the Israelis: "OK guys, have an entire planet each. You can build your nations there and live however the hell you like. It might not be the holy land but we'll set up a spaceport just outside Jerusalem and let you come visit any time you like."
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