"So, how do you - we - keep control of this after we go public?"
Deidre raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't we keep what we created, Mr. Anderson?"
"It's too useful. Stick some derricks on a world without people, suck the oil out, bring it back here, and undercut the OPEC nations. Likewise with diamonds and deBeers."
Mal snorted. "Diamonds are over-priced rocks anyway."
"True, but they do have industrial uses. If you'd rather, find a world where Oswald missed Kennedy, or Kaplan didn't miss Lenin's heart. Or my sister survived that car crash two decades ago. You'll find a lot of people wanting to visit those first two, and I want to visit the last one."
"I can see how that's important, Noah, but how is it too useful?"
"We aren't the only ones who've lost important people, Tanith. Who would the government want to bring through that portal ... gateway ... thingy if they could?"
"Even if we find these people," asked Deidre, "would they come? They're not property - we can't just take them away from their lives."
"That's how we think, but the word 'kidnapping' exists for a reason. So, how do we keep control of this after we go public, so that doesn't happen?"
Tanith looked puzzled. "Ms. Griest built it, you sound like you're going to fund it, and I know I want in to organize it. Why wouldn't we keep it?"
"Call me paranoid, but despite what Robert Asprin wrote in The Cold Cash War, if a government really wants something, they can use the military to take it."
"That's illegal."
"Yes, Mr. Fnord, it is. Will that stop them?"
"Okay. You're paranoid."
"Noah has a point, though." offered Tanith. "The government might not be able to legally take this away from us, but they can bury us so deep in regulations that we'd have to do things their way or not do things at all."
"Then we set things up so they don't want to take it away from us."
"All right, Ms. Griest. How?" Everybody thought about Noah's question for a moment.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Deidre raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't we keep what we created, Mr. Anderson?"
"It's too useful. Stick some derricks on a world without people, suck the oil out, bring it back here, and undercut the OPEC nations. Likewise with diamonds and deBeers."
Mal snorted. "Diamonds are over-priced rocks anyway."
"True, but they do have industrial uses. If you'd rather, find a world where Oswald missed Kennedy, or Kaplan didn't miss Lenin's heart. Or my sister survived that car crash two decades ago. You'll find a lot of people wanting to visit those first two, and I want to visit the last one."
"I can see how that's important, Noah, but how is it too useful?"
"We aren't the only ones who've lost important people, Tanith. Who would the government want to bring through that portal ... gateway ... thingy if they could?"
"Even if we find these people," asked Deidre, "would they come? They're not property - we can't just take them away from their lives."
"That's how we think, but the word 'kidnapping' exists for a reason. So, how do we keep control of this after we go public, so that doesn't happen?"
Tanith looked puzzled. "Ms. Griest built it, you sound like you're going to fund it, and I know I want in to organize it. Why wouldn't we keep it?"
"Call me paranoid, but despite what Robert Asprin wrote in The Cold Cash War, if a government really wants something, they can use the military to take it."
"That's illegal."
"Yes, Mr. Fnord, it is. Will that stop them?"
"Okay. You're paranoid."
"Noah has a point, though." offered Tanith. "The government might not be able to legally take this away from us, but they can bury us so deep in regulations that we'd have to do things their way or not do things at all."
"Then we set things up so they don't want to take it away from us."
"All right, Ms. Griest. How?" Everybody thought about Noah's question for a moment.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012