Both the U.S. and (the People’s Republic of) China are trying to establish the first lunar outposts, and it is possible that we will see lunar colonies within our lifetimes. When that happens, do you think there will be a movement towards independence, just as the colonies of Britain, France, Spain, etc. vyed for freedom? Would this be peaceful or violent, and how would either work? How realistic is an independent lunar nation, given the hostile living conditions? What would lunar culture look like? Would it be a mix of American and Chinese culture, or something new entirely?

Or do you think the Moon and other bodies in our Solar System will become internationally run (and protected) areas, a bit like how Antarctica is on Earth?

  • zombiebikini@lemmy.zip
    13·
    2 days ago

    Heinlein explored how a lunar colony could develop in “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress”. He thinks it will move towards some kind of anarcho-capitalist society that will fight for independence from earth. His ideas on how a predominantly male society will result in polygamy are somewhat weird but fascinating.

    • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
      9·
      2 days ago

      On one hand, it’s a really good. On the other, the future it predicted failed.

      Let’s start with the author’s ideas about prison. When the book was written, cartels and prison gangs were nowhere near as prevalent as they are today. The idea that there’d be no gangs running the Lunar prisons might have made sense in 1966, but not today.

      I also get a chuckle out of the idea that it’s easier for a computer to achieve self-awareness than it is for that same computer to create a realistic video image.

      I use the term ‘antique science fiction’ for older books that are fun to read but can’t be taken seriously.

      • bluGill@fedia.io
        9·
        1 day ago

        I’m most amused to discover they had two computers total on the moon. Almost as amusing as 1930s sicfi where computers were humans

        • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
          4·
          1 day ago

          “The Man Who Sold The Moon” is wrong about pretty much everything, but it’s still a great read.

          HG Wells and Jules Verne are never going to go away, because their books are still fun.

          • Sergio@piefed.socialEnglish
            3·
            1 day ago

            The martians in Heinlein’s “Red Planet” and “Stranger in a Strange Land” are really interesting, even tho we now know the planet is nothing like that.

    • nymnympseudonym@piefed.socialEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      See also The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin

      Granted it’s Mars not the Moon but the breakaway – and how it affects Earth politics – is a central plotnpoint