As I understand it, there have historically been three reasons for establishing colonies:
The first driving force is already in effect. People who are willing and able to get away from "the Man" already have - they're the people who make up the Fenspace Convention.
The second driving force tends to require people present at or near the place the government is projecting power to. Diplomacy ("gunboat" or otherwise) requires somebody to interact with.
If I didn't miss any driving forces, that leaves "easing population pressure" as a reason to colonize extra-Solar worlds. I believe DeputyJones made an offer to write up an example of this back in post 30 of this thread, so I won't say anything more on it for now.
--
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
- Getting away from a government (e.g. the Puritan settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts)
- Extending the reach of a government (e.g. the British penal colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales)
- Easing population pressure
The first driving force is already in effect. People who are willing and able to get away from "the Man" already have - they're the people who make up the Fenspace Convention.
The second driving force tends to require people present at or near the place the government is projecting power to. Diplomacy ("gunboat" or otherwise) requires somebody to interact with.
If I didn't miss any driving forces, that leaves "easing population pressure" as a reason to colonize extra-Solar worlds. I believe DeputyJones made an offer to write up an example of this back in post 30 of this thread, so I won't say anything more on it for now.
HRogge Wrote:Its more like a month for a single trip... a freighter isn't as fast (sublight) as a car... so I would guess 10 days to the limit, a few days between the stars and another 10 days to Centauri B. Maybe even more, depending on the speed of the freighter.One can cut half of the in-Sol-system time by supplying from Ganymede instead of Earth. As of 2020, that's practical for food at the least.
--
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