The Martian Federation Society
Copyright 2017 by Raul E, Lopez, MD
Why Colonize Space?
1. Resources
Western society is built on an idea expressed in one of her wisdom books. "Be fruitful and multiply and fill all the dry land and have dominion over all living things." A productive growing population with growing technology and growing use of resources is the essence of western civilization. This principle of fruitfulness as multiplication and dominion has been well attested to by history. Mankind is most prosperous and happy when it has room to grow, new frontiers to conquer, and new resources to exploit. It motivated Columbus and the explorers from western Europe that went before and after him. It motivated the Russians as they expanded east into empty territory. In the United States it has been called the American dream. When the western frontier still existed in the United States young people were told "go west, young man." However, there are no large new frontiers on Earth. The Earth is fast approaching its carrying capacity. The Earth cannot produce food cheaply for more than ten billion people. We will approach this amount some time this century.
Furthermore, even though here on Earth we still have some room to grow, some small new frontiers to conquer, and a few new resources to exploit, these are rapidly diminishing, and increasingly under control of entities who oppose exploration, exploitation, and colonization. A classic example is Antarctica, which is technically a frozen ocean, not dry land. All commercial exploitation of that continent has been banned or discouraged by various means, not least of which is the lack of allowing the private ownership of land and mineral rights. Why explore for oil if one cannot pump or even own the oil one discovers? There remain large tracts of underdeveloped territory on Earth, such as Africa and parts of Asia, but many of these lands are owned by people and ruled by governments who oppose the principles required to exploit these resources and to create a prosperous society. These are often countries which are close to their carrying capacity, either because they have a high population density, or because they occupy lands which are not particularly fertile.
A recent article in Foreign Affairs stated, "Demographic decline is nonetheless toxic for the economy. The primary threat most countries now face, in fact, is not too many people but too few young workers . . . A world with fewer fast-growing working-age populations will experience fewer economic miracles . . . it's hard to see how the world economy can find enough new workers to grow as fast in the future as it has in the recent past" – Ruchir Sharma, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2016.
As the world approaches limits to its carrying capacity the only way to create an expanding human population is to expand into the solar system. The solar system has the resources to expand human civilization to vastly larger dimensions in terms of numbers, wealth, knowledge and life span. These resources are unclaimed and nearly inexhaustible. John Lewis, in "Mining the Sky", has calculated that the resources in the asteroids could sustain a population of about 10 quadrillion people at a level of affluence equivalent to the top 10% of wage earners in the United States. Imagine how many scientists working to cure cancer, heart disease, and learning to prolong life such a population could sustain, not to mention artists, philosophers, and scholars of all kinds! Some might consider the spread of human civilization the spread of a cancer, however, we disagree. The same wisdom book that encourages human expansion justifies it by saying that mankind reflects the image of the creator. Growth is the essence of our humanity. If we quit growing we will descend into subhuman chaos. However, in order to grow we must seek new resources.
2. Freedom
Another pillar of western civilization is the concept of freedom. As children, most of us heard the story of the Egyptian slaves who were freed miraculously and led to the promised land. This story has inspired slaves for millennia. As technology increases, it makes our life easier, longer, more productive and more satisfying. However, it also gives government the tools to monitor and control the population. It allows the rich and powerful to expand their influence and gives the wicked among us the tools to wreak havoc and destruction. Technology has led to globalization, wealth disparity, increased surveillance and increased regulation. This has put the brakes on technological progress. This is the result when increases in technology are not accompanied with human expansion. When the Roman empire stopped expanding the resulting stagnation led Europe into the middle ages and today, this pause in expansion could lead us into a high tech middle ages.
Furthermore, increase in technology coupled with limited expansion is leading the world towards a unified global government. This development is inevitable. However, it is important to maintain a branch of the human race independent from such government in order to maintain competition. Mankind prospers from competition. A single unified government for humanity will stifle competition, limit freedom, and breed stagnation.
The technological advances of the last few centuries have brought the people of the world into closer contact with each other. These are the result of advances in transportation and communication. For example, until the 1950's, most immigrants to the Americas never went back to visit the relatives they left behind in the old country. Until the late 1800's or early 1900's immigrants were never able to ever again speak to those relatives. However, immigrants in the 21st century often telephone or Skype their relatives at little expense and also have the luxury of returning to visit their family back home, often. These advances have allowed increased trade between countries, leading to the globalization of markets. The inventors of Coca Cola probably never imagined that their beverage would be sold around the world. Increased trade and market globalization creates the need for settling international disputes. It also has led to the unification of currencies. The Euro has become the common currency of several European countries, and the US Dollar is the official currency of Panama, Ecuador and several other countries. Increased ease of travel has also led to increased trafficking of illegal items such as drugs and weapons and has allowed the entry of organized terrorists into western nations such as the United States. Advanced transportation systems, such as missiles, has also placed all the nations of the world under the threat of attack by the nuclear weapons of distant nations.
These forces will lead to the inevitable creation of a unified global government. The case will me made that such a government is needed to regulate trade, help resolve international disputes peacefully, and to help protect nations from the threat of attack by other nations. Unfortunately, a global government would be the uncontested ultimate power on the planet. An insightful social scientist of a previous century eloquently described a law of human behavior when he observed that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Uncontested power is a form of absolute power. The discovery of America helped promote freedom by providing Europeans a way to escape the totalitarian monarchies under which they lived. They were able to vote for freedom with their feet. Furthermore, every time an emigrant left the old country and news returned back home that this individual was prospering in America, it gave those who stayed behind the hope and the motivation needed to fight for freedom at home. Furthermore, when intolerable totalitarian regimes arose in Europe, Asia, and around the world, the freer countries were able to wage war against them and eliminate the threat they posed to the free world. Even without overt war, competition between the USA and the USSR led to the collapse of the latter. However, when global government begins to suppress our freedoms they will have no competition and freedom lovers will have no place to go, unless we prepare now.
It was the age of discovery that lead Europe out of the dark ages and brought half a millennium of economic growth to the populations of the world. Admittedly, the horrors of the middle ages were not erased overnight and many atrocities were committed by all parties during the age of discovery and expansion. However, if you ask anybody if they would prefer to live in their country now or back in time in medieval Europe, or in America under the Aztec or Inca Empires or in medieval China or Japan or in the medieval Ottoman Empire most people would pick the present. On Mars your emails are not going to be read by the NSA and the EPA is not going to tell you how to run your greenhouse. This freedom, if not abused, will lead to the growth of innovation and a better quality of life.
3. Technological Progress
Physical challenges coupled with the potential for gain promote innovation. A common way to express this truth is the observation that necessity is the mother of invention. The space race of the 1960s was one of the engines which powered the growth of technology during that time. The space race directly or indirectly led to the development of integrated circuits, satellite TV, precision weather forecasting, the CT and MRI, portable computers, cordless appliances, new materials and much more. A space effort that actually establishes a permanent presence on a lunar or planetary body and begins the extraction of resources should create an even greater plethora of innovation. Those countries or groups which become involved first will reap the greatest benefit the quickest. Since the colonization of space involves challenges in so many areas it will stimulate technological advancements in many areas, from engineering to life sciences to social sciences. This will lead to more prosperous and more peaceful societies and perhaps longer life spans.
