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It's a mistake to think of states and law as these neat, clearly defined things. Nowadays law is generally a tool used by a group of people to make coexistence

It's a mistake to think of states and law as these neat, clearly defined things. Nowadays law is generally a tool used by a group of people to make coexistence and societal processes smoother. On the grander scale might makes right and whoever has the ability and will to make and enforce law will do so. If however there are no laws, there can be no crime, by definition, and thus there is no crime going unpunished. Does it matter right now? No. Will it in 50 years? Probably not still. Looking at our planet what we understand as modern law has generally only emerged in large groups of people. It's debatable whether any small group truly needs it.

deathgrips 6y ago
>Does it matter right now? No. Will it in 50 years? Probably not still. Looking at our planet what we understand as modern law has generally only emerged in large groups of people. It's debatable whether any small group truly needs it. It takes a special lack of self awareness to type this out on an internet forum in 2021.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
> Looking at our planet what we understand as modern law has generally only emerged in large groups of people. It's debatable whether any small group truly needs it. Laws - and hierarchy, generally - evolve with the size of the group that tries to live together. Small tribes of a hundred people didn't need them, but past that number people organically develop structures. But that's irrelevant to first people living in space. They are not an independent small group, merely a long arm of the large (and increasingly global) society that sent them there. They do not own the ship on which they came, or the station on which they reside. Every artifact they use has investments and expectations of other people embedded in it. Their very presence in space is something commanded by the people back on Earth. Situation may change if there are space settlements large enough to require their own layer of internal governance (say, 100+ astronauts). These may start pushing towards increased self-governance over time, especially as they maintain and build their own infrastructure and eventually start having children. Of course, existing power structures will be reluctant to let them go, so any independence movement will be of the usual "might makes right" type. But we're very far from that point. Definitely more than 50 years.

deathgrips 6y ago

>Does it matter right now? No. Will it in 50 years? Probably not still. Looking at our planet what we understand as modern law has generally only emerged in large groups of people. It's debatable whether any small group truly needs it. It takes a special lack of self awareness to type this out on an internet forum in 2021.

TeMPOraL 6y ago

> Looking at our planet what we understand as modern law has generally only emerged in large groups of people. It's debatable whether any small group truly needs it. Laws - and hierarchy, generally - evolve with the size of the group that tries to live together. Small tribes of a hundred people didn't need them, but past that number people organically develop structures. But that's irrelevant to first people living in space. They are not an independent small group, merely a long arm of the large (and increasingly global) society that sent them there. They do not own the ship on which they came, or the station on which they reside. Every artifact they use has investments and expectations of other people embedded in it. Their very presence in space is something commanded by the people back on Earth. Situation may change if there are space settlements large enough to require their own layer of internal governance (say, 100+ astronauts). These may start pushing towards increased self-governance over time, especially as they maintain and build their own infrastructure and eventually start having children. Of course, existing power structures will be reluctant to let them go, so any independence movement will be of the usual "might makes right" type. But we're very far from that point. Definitely more than 50 years.