Eastercon blog-a-day 2: Colonizing Mars

Just another day for you, you and me in Eastercon.

A number of interesting panel discussions today, but I've selected some interesting insights from one called:

Building a Mars Constitution

This panel discussion was, no doubt, instigated by the fairly recent announcements by Space X founder that they are drafting plans for a Martian colony with flights to start in the early 2020's. The idea we were encouraged to discuss was, what would a Martian constitution involve.

The session started with a description of constitutions and a bit of a rant against the US constitution and why the Magna Carta was better. Whatever. This was to set the stage for the idea that we would need a democracy, and one that probably started early on in the existence of the colony, so that it would set the ground work for structuring the entire colony's future.

As such a discussion is want to do, it degenerated numerous times, into mini-conversations on such tangents as primary vs. secondary colonists, how to construct a Martian colony, the moon is more practical unless we intend to teraform Mars, radiation and other biological considerations, and many more.

One of the more interesting asides to me was on how the colonists would be selected, and how the colony social structure would evolve. e.g. would there be drug dealers, prostitutes and police and if so, how soon? I found it especially interesting because it highlights the ideas that people have about society and how the real vs. ideal perceptions.

For example, one panelist was convinced that a starter colony of engineers and scientists would be an ideal colony of people that would be the best and most dedicated of humanity and, apparently, could not succumb to human weaknesses. He seemed to find it impossible to believe that such a colony would develop, e.g. their own drugs, or prostitution.

Apparently, some people have never met scientists or engineers.

Fortunately, most of the audience was somewhat more world-wise and we were pretty unanimous in our agreement that, when you leave scientists alone for several years with nothing to do for recreation, these highly skilled and capable people will make their own drugs and other recreational activities.

In short, while we may like to imagine nice, sterile, research colonies. The truth is that, if people are stuck there for the rest of their lives, they will create their own recreation with what they have available, and that Schwarzenegger's Total Recall is not that unlikely.

Insight and longevity.