What did the Soviet Union, the British, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese Empires, along
with a number of others enjoy with great enthusiasm?
Lines.
Not zip lines, light rail lines, or tan lines.
Well, actually tan lines would be acceptable considering these empire’s love of colonizing
the Caribbean and other warm climates.
Anyways, I'm talking about the border kind of line.
These empires loved to carve up whatever they could into sections with panhandles, islands,
enclaves, exclaves, and all sorts of straight and jagged lines.
The rest of the world was basically a cake, and organizations such as the Royal Navy were
the knives to cut it.
To this day, lines have a massive impact on our societies, with different governments,
religious views, and economic prosperity shaping the way we live, and what is yet to come.
These lines however, are all on Earth.
What's going to happen to the cosmos?
Mars in particular.
People may say colonizing the cosmos will be done in the name of human spirit, but that
won't change the ideologies of private property and nationalism for the people leaving our
planet.
The very reason we are in this position to begin with is because of two competing countries.
Without competition from the Soviets, NASA never would have received 4.5 % of the US
national budget, and never would have put a man on the moon.
Is it inevitable that Mars will be divided up, and then become its own country or countries?
There's one major roadblock preventing this.
Nobody can own land on Mars, or anywhere outside of Earth.
Why?
Because of the Outer Space Treaty signed during the cold war.
The only thing you own and control is the material you bring into space.
You also can't prevent others from using the area around you so so much for lines.
So, can you have a country with no territory?
Sure you can.
As long as you have a society and government that is not somebody else’s puppet show
or site of exploitation, regardless of the intent of the puppet master, then you're good.
At least on Mars.
But, if we were to send people to Mars right now, it would be far from independent.
For obvious reasons, each and every site containing humans on Mars would have to be affiliated
with a space agency.
On earth, if your village is on fire, what do you do?
You run away of course.
As you can see, it isn't exactly so easy on Mars.
If your base is destroyed, you are going to die.
You have no way of communicating with anyone else, and sooner rather than later, your oxygen
will run out.
You need a space agency to seek assistance, provide guidance, and monitor safety procedures
such as oxygen levels.
Say the permanent population on Mars significantly increases and different bases are able to
support each other in times of crisis.
Would citizens feel a greater connection to Martian-humans of other ethnicities, or Earth-humans
of the same ethnicity.
In times of crisis, conflict, or destitution, humans tend to either sabotage each other,
or culturally associate themselves with their neighbors.
Since missions to Mars would be so important and fragile, I’m going to go with the second
option.
The first world war is a great example of this in Canada and the United States.
Both countries were to a certain extent patchworks of regions and ethnicities, not truly united.
Then, world war 1 came about and it united the regions and ethnicities together into
2 united nations of people.
Instead of worrying about domestic issues, all of that hostility was directed towards
a common enemy.
Isolation is also a considerable factor when considering culture and identification.
Both Canada and the United States were left in geographic isolation from the British for
a few hundred years after colonization, thus making Canadians generally feel more culturally
connected with other Canadians, and to a certain extent, Americans, than Britons.
For example, baseball is commonly played across North America in both Canada and the United
States, while you likely won't find a field in Britain.
Cricket on the other hand is quite popular in Britain, while cricket pitches are hard
to come by in North America.
The point is, it is safe to say that people on Mars, especially after a new generation
is born on the red planet who do not know what life on Earth is like, will identify
with other humans on Mars than people on Earth, even if they may or may not speak the same
first language or hail from the same country.
It is also likely that children born on Mars will have bone problems and won’t be able
to withstand the Earth’s gravity, giving absolutely no justifiable reason to visit
Earth.
On top of that, martian humans will look different by being taller due to the weaker gravity.
The other question that needs to be asked is “would space agencies on Earth let humans
on Mars rule themselves?”
They most likely will.
If the population on Mars becomes large enough to be considered a society, rather than just
a few people, Earth likely would have no problem granting independence for Mars.
Why?
Economics.
Contrary to what happened to the 13 colonies, there is no money to be made from Mars.
All the capital poured in to funding Mars missions is simply for the purposes of science,
engineering, and innovation, not for industry and exportation.
There is no lumber, cotton, or anything else to profit from.
Although there are countless valuable minerals on Mars, none of them are of enough value
to financially justify transportation to Earth.
The only people who could use anything of value found on Mars would be people on Mars
themselves.
Space agencies and governments could continue to fund experiments and missions, knowing
full well that the funding is for the exact same things as they were before, and at a
reduced liability.
If agencies and governments on Earth said no, that would be quite foolish.
The billions of dollars poured into this series of expeditions would go to waste.
But what about the other reason for colonization: military.
The only real value of places like Guam to the United States, or the Cyprus territories
of the United Kingdom is military and security.
Would the ideology of militarized colonies or territories continue on the red planet.
Unfortunately for Imperialism, militants, and the not yet existing MRA, Martian Rifle
Association, but fortunately for almost everybody and everything else, there will be no significant
military on Mars.
The Outer Space Treaty strictly says no nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction,
and the usage of space is only for peaceful purposes.
Bye bye death Star.
But there's one thing we're not talking about.
Corporations.
Many of the serious planned missions to Mars, or at least those that make headlines in the
media, are owned and operated by private companies.
Companies like SpaceX and not for profit’s like Mars One are just some of the leaders
in the industry.
If a company sends billions of dollars in equipment to another planet, is it grand theft
for people on Mars to declare themselves independent or disobey SpaceX and use the equipment?
According to the Outer Space Treaty, if a corporation launches a rocket, registered
in a given country, that country is responsible for anything the corporation does in outer
space.
So by extension, the United States would probably be responsible for making sure SpaceX’s
rights as a corporation, whatever they may be in the near future, are not violated.
They would also be responsible in guaranteeing human rights to those on the red planet.
Whether or not the United States would want to take action against the passively rebellious
martian colonists is uncertain, and it’s unlikely they, or any government or corporation
could do anything about it, considering it would take anywhere from 6 months to 3 years
to get there, as of recent technology.
So basically, anybody on Mars would be free from the laws of the Earth.
Speaking of laws on Earth, the Outer Space Treaty is one of them.
Simply an Earth law.
Every clause concerning weapons, national claims to sovereignty, and liabilities of
states, is nothing more than words on a sheet of paper, millions of kilometers away.
Only the countries who have signed the treaty are liable to follow it.
If Angola, a country who did not sign the agreement, were to put weapons on the moon,
or claim the sun as their own, they wouldn’t be breaking the law.
Sure they might be condemned and sanctioned by other countries, but they wouldn’t have
committed a crime.
Any country formed on Mars would also have never signed the treaty.
Although they might due to goodwill, they are not obligated to.
Another interesting thing is an amendment made to the Outer Space Treaty called the
rescue clause, which basically says if you are able to, you must provide assistance and
safety to those who need it in outer space.
An organization like the European Space Agency would be required to follow this law, as almost
all European countries are parties in the agreement.
But, as we just discussed, a sovereign state on Mars would not have to reciprocate that.
In theory, they could request assistance whenever they need it, knowing full well organizations
on Earth in the area would have to help them, while not having to return the favour.
Although this may be unlikely, what happens later on, when millions of people call the
red planet home?
Different societies will begin to develop.
Although Martian-humans will feel much more connected to other Martian-humans than Earth-humans,
the Martian-humans will begin to break apart over time, naturally forming cultural differences
and regional governments, who may have their own space treaties in due time.
These societies will have wildly different ideologies concerning property, freedoms,
laws, and beliefs than those on Earth.
Earth may try and control people on Mars, but only the people on Mars will decide their
sovereignty.
Assuming humanity gets to this point, Mars will eventually be at least one country, and
possibly many nations of people.
The Outer Space Treaty as we know it today could be drastically different in the near
future, or be replaced entirely by something else.
What people on Mars consider a country or a government, or even a society could be unrecognizable
to us humans on Earth today.
Who knows what the future holds.
And until next time, thanks for watching.