Attack of the Lawyers from Outer Space

One of the things I enjoyed most about science fiction as a kid was its optimism. Sure, there were dystopic visions of nuclear holocaust and intergalactic empires at war, but there were also tales of utopian societies where people lived sustainably and in peace (the collectivist society of Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin�s The Dispossessed comes to mind.)

The reassuring message of utopian sci-fi is that, �Sure, humans screwed up Earth, but when they finally figure out how to travel through space, they�ll also figure out how to live in harmony.� That message was reflected in the multi-ethnic, multi-species crew of the Starship Enterprise, whose members enjoyed a collegiality (unless one of them was overcome by some demonic alien influence or replaced by an evil twin from an alternate universe) that many hoped would eventually emerge from the civil rights struggles and anti-war protests of the 1960s.

Well, this article in The Economist makes me think we�re no closer to solving our problems even as the prospect of space colonization seems ever more tangible.

The article notes that in a Star Trek-like moment of international harmony, space-faring nations in 1967 devised the United Nations Outer Space Treaty to declare that no nation can claim sovereignty over the moon. A hundred and two nations have signed on.

But now �space law scholars� (the next best thing to being an astronaut if weightlessness makes you nauseous) are debating whether the treaty still allows for private (as opposed to national ownership) of celestial satellites. It figures, of course, the debate is being fueled in part by a billionaire, who �wants to establish private property rights on the Moon in a bid to tackle Chinese lunar dominance. He believes �the final nail in America�s 21st century coffin is likely to be China�s takeover of the Moon.��

I can�t help but think of the Native Americans, who knew nothing of property rights, watching the Europeans steal their land, chop it into lots, and transform it from a shared inheritance to a private commodity.

Once someone owns a chunk of the Moon, it�s easy to imagine someone suing if they trip over a carelessly placed Moon rock or someone getting arrested for trespassing (�Private Crater: Keep Out�.) From there, it�s not too hard to imagine more serious crime, more serious lawsuits, more serious conflicts eventually leading to interstellar wars.

The only good thing, I suppose, is that there will still be a need for books like The Dispossessed, imagining utopian worlds that will still seem just around the corner and yet perhaps forever out of reach.