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The colonization of Earth was accomplished with brute force, not visas.
by M_Grey 10y ago
The colonization of Earth was accomplished with brute force, not visas.
- mc32 10y agoImagine deep sea exploration. Someone finds something very valuable and worth extracting despite the cost. There are treaties for this, of course. But would it work the same for Mars? Or, would we revert to force, as you say, if the Mars colony declares independence and says, no more Earthlings or only Earthlings from Country X who pay us handsomely.
- dpc59 10y agoWhen it comes to politics might is right.
- babuskov 10y ago> Mars colony declares independence It worked out fine for the USA.
- vkou 10y agoA Mars base declaring independence would be like the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station declaring independence.
- shuntress 10y agoIf the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station ever achieved a self-sustaining system, maybe they would have declared independence. edit: Meaning, it's more like saying 'The Columbus Expeditions declared independence'. Only once the colonies were, mostly, self-sufficient could they look seriously at independence.
- M_Grey 10y agoI mean... if a Mars colony really pisses people off, I imagine you'd hear the phrase, "Nuke them from orbit" bandied about a lot.
- tomp 10y agoThis would probably go both ways. In fact, as Earth has so many satellites (GPS, communication, etc), you could simply "nuke" the orbit.
- M_Grey 10y agoIt could, but that assumes an incredibly advanced Mars which can produce interplanetary weapons and launch without detection. Earth would also have the benefit of being able to withstand the event without total destruction, while presumably life on Mars would be in a relatively small area. You could wipe out a city on Earth, but you you could wipe out life on Mars. Eventually though? Hell yes. Same with asteroid belt colonies and mining, especially when you consider the tech to exploit asteroids and the tech to steer on at Earth would look pretty similar. Presumably the limiting factor on such aggression would be the long-term dependency on Earth for supplies that couldn't be fabricated offworld, foodstuffs, and so on. At first, for at least a couple of generations, you'd also have the strong connection to the homeworld, I assume.