The Room 102 thread - for things you love or just having a bloody good praise!

[Raid]

Ehh. I don't like the narcissistic aspect of it either, but if the money is going back into development of space exploration technologies, then I'm ok with it. If I had money to burn, I'd probably want to do it too. What I don't want to see is these billionaires attempting to claim ownership of stuff outside of Earth's atmosphere - I know there are international conventions preventing nation states from doing that, but I'm not sure if they cover corporations or individuals.

[Wrathbone]

What I don't want to see is these billionaires attempting to claim ownership of stuff outside of Earth's atmosphere - I know there are international conventions preventing nation states from doing that, but I'm not sure if they cover corporations or individuals.

It's 100% going to happen. If Amazon gets to Mars first and claims it (in actuality, if not on paper), how exactly are governments going to stop them? I can't see them being bothered enough to send military forces to Mars to enforce it.

[Alan]

Well get in there first!

https://buymars.com/

[Raid]

The government wouldn't send a military force to Mars, they'd simply sanction the entities on Earth. At least for the moment, no colony could survive independent of support from home. What I want to know is whether they could do this *legally*; the USA give so much free reign to corporations that I'd be surprised if they'd take action without a solid legal basis for doing so.

[Wrathbone]

The government wouldn't send a military force to Mars, they'd simply sanction the entities on Earth.

Governments don't even hold Amazon to account over tax. I fail to see how they'd be more aggressive in enforcing laws with a company rich and powerful enough to make inroads on Mars, and in that respect I don't think it really matters what's legal and what isn't in terms of Mars colonisation. It'll be the new wild west.

[Mantis]

I suppose they might be inclined to take more aggressive action if they were threatened by it. A private corporation laying claim to territory like that completely turns the status quo on its head when it comes to the concept of nation states and international boundaries.

Realistically, given the way corporate interests in politics currently works, I imagine it would only take Amazon greasing the right palms to get away with something as ridiculous as claiming ownership of Mars.

[Wrathbone]

I don't think it'll be case of Amazon or whoever planting a flag and saying "this is ours now". If you're the only person in an orchard, you don't announce which apples you're going to take. It'll be a case of first come, first serve, and inevitably at some point that's going to result in disputes over ownership and rights, and it will be between companies, not nations. Jeff Bezos isn't going to declare himself King Martian, because there's no money in that. He could probably buy a small nation now if that's what he wants.

I doubt it would be a more cheerful picture if nations decided to put substantially more funding into Mars colonisation and actually go about some form of annexation. The current trajectory of space exploration is very much with private business, though, and they wouldn't be putting so much money and effort into it if there wasn't a bucketload of money on the horizon. Mars is the prize.

[Mantis]

I think the issue and threat remains the same regardless. Even if Bezos doesn't explicitly lay claim to anything, Mars contains an unfathomable amount of resources to harness and nations won't like him taking his slice of the pie before they've even turned up.

Though declaring himself king of the Martians is something I could actually see Elon Musk doing.

[Wrathbone]

Mars contains an unfathomable amount of resources to harness and nations won't like him taking his slice of the pie before they've even turned up.

Again, though, I don't believe governments would be in a position to anything about it. If our gov are so spineless that they don't dare demand more tax from big business for fear of that business leaving (or pulling funding for political campaigns), what threats can they possibly level at a business that's holding the keys to Mars?

[eny]

Not a fan of KFC particularly, but look at who they follow on Twitter!

[Medicine Man]

[Sly Boots]

OMG it took a few seconds to get it

[Snowy]

Haha that had me for a moment too

[eny]

Wonderful! That kid and his dog are making memories!

[eny]