Re: Re: starship-design: scoops and sails and something to push against

[A West <andrew@hmm.u-net.com>]

>On Earth, no one really questions anyone's right to breathe,
>because air is everywhere and nobody has to do any work to
>maintain it (although environmentally we are increasingly having
>to do work to keep from destroying it).  When people have to make
>all the air everyone will need to breathe, won't this produce
>some very different economic, and hence social, pressures on that 
>society?  Exactly what existing human society do you think models 
>that situation, and why?  Why are you sure that this won't
>produce a social organization different than what has existed in
>history?


You could consider a water empire as a parallel to this, where the
gorvernment controls all supply to water, so effectively controls who lives
and who dies - if there were some riots in a part of town, simply cut off
the water supply, and they'll all go away and die.
But asides from being picky, I think you're right, there are always things
we dont' consider, so you can't safely rule new economic/sociological
conditions.

Andrew West