From: Corwyn J. Alambar (nettiger@best.com)
Date: Thu Aug 24 2000 - 14:27:18 MDT
Space exploration and colonization. This is one of the biggest, if not the
biggest, endeavor mankind has encountered in the history of civilization. It
is, however, going to require us to rethink some of our most basic assumptions
about how we measure value and economy, and how we deal with so-called common
goods, and "unaccounted costs" of business and living.
The basic assumptions about value and scarcity have to be reconsidered. Things
that we take for granted here on earth (breathable air, clean water, protection
from radiation) are all commodities of a remarkable scarcity on another world.
Unless you are underwater or buried underground, you can always take a breath
(and unless you're near a chemical spill or volcanic eruption, odds are it's
life-sustaining). In an extra-terrestrial colony situation, however, air is a
limited resource. The same goes for water, and even food - you can't forage
the surface of Mars, so any kind of food production collapse inherently means
famine. Thus the basis fr the economy is very different - it isn't based on
the assumption that a life, albeit an uncomfortable one, is attainable even
if you are somehow excluded from the economic system.
The idea o value will also take a radical change. Things that are considered
economically inviable (i.e. widespread photovoltaic electricity production,
micro-scale chemical manufacturing, commercial hydroponics) suddenly become
more valuable given the constraints of limited "traditional" resources (no
petrochemicals to start with) and limitations of other "non-traditional"
resources (pure water, volume for production, constant air pressure, human
resources). Economies of scale are less useful with a limited market and the
specialized needs te environment poses. This will lead to a rethinking of
economic production, one would hope, since for a time huge refineries and
power plants are unlikely at best.
"Unaccounted costs" will be the area where business practices and economic
estimates will have to chang themost, however. Such "unaccounted" costs of,
say, an automobile-based transportation system include air pollution, water
pollution, noise pollution, increased road maintenance, and the possibility of
increased cancer rates, plus the extra space required to store and maintain a
vehicle. In a closed, limited environment with negligible carrying capacity
for pollutants, a slight fouling of the air will not be carried away by the
breeze or the next storm - there IS no next storm. Additionally, something
that contaminates water will either have to be filtered or the water discarded,
making water a non-renewable resource in the end. And any space that becomes
too fouled to use will be lost - at a time when space/volume is limited.
Common goods become critical because those things everyone share will have
to me actively maintained. It won't be acceptable, for example, for leaky
gas lines in a domed setting - indeed, the enclosed structure in this case
is a major common good that needs to be maintained. This requires the
vigilance and maintenance by some sort of organization - a government, perhaps,
or a "non-aligned" (non-profit?) corporation that maintains, repairs, and
upgrades these facilities.
The worst possible situation to arise here is that there is no prior economic
system to build up from, or to revert to if mistakes have been made. The
economy must be capable of tuning itself and running sustained from the
beginning, lest it crash and the entire economic infrastructure fail. This
may be the most difficult task (economically speaking) facing a colony - until
it is constructued and begins to be populatd, it can rely upon external
economic inputs. Once it is established, however, it may need to quickly
establish its own economic reality or face irreconcilable economic hardship.
In the end, the old economc models will be inadequate for dealing with the
critical first year or two of an established extraterrestrial colony's
existence. How these questiosn ar edealt with in the planning stages could
set thestage for the success or failure of mankind's presence as a resident
and habitant of other worlds.
-Corey
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