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Old October 3rd 07, 05:03 AM posted to rec.arts.sf.science,sci.space.history
Pat Flannery
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Default Questions about "The High Frontier"



Damien Valentine wrote:
No, sir; the copy I just read, at any rate, specifically promotes
colonies as bastions of individualism and freedom (although he
specifically avoids describing details of colonial government), and
also as a reservoir for Earth's population growth (which would at this
point have to be 200,000 people shipped out to L5 _every day_).


In my copy I'm reading about the fact that in a lot of ways, life on a
habitat would be considerably less free than on Earth.
Population would have to be strictly controlled, and any form of
dissidence that could present a danger to the habitat stopped in its
tracks. If I decide to secretly drill a hole in the ground here on
Earth, its unlikely the whole population of Jamestown, ND will
suffocate; that wouldn't be the case on a space habitat. This sounds
like a perfect set-up for something a lot more like a fascist state than
a libertarian paradise.

Pat