Garriott on the Moon

[miffy495]

Given the crossover of two of the favorite topics of Idle Thumbs (being video games [not capitalized, therefor the medium, not Jake] and the Moon) I figured I'd throw up this link. It appears that Richard Garriott may have a legal claim to 40 kilometers of the moon's surface. Discuss.

[elmuerte]

I doubt anybody can legally claim part of the moon, nobody has the right to govern the moon. So can you legally claim something when there is no body that can back up the legality.

[miffy495]

I believe the idea is that it goes back to some still-standing colonization law. Basically, because he owns a robot which has explored 40kms of the moon's surface, and this territory does not belong to any government, he has the right to claim it as his property. It may not stand up, nor may he or anyone else ever actually take it seriously, but it's still a weird and interesting thing. Dude could at least make a defensible case in international court for owning a chunk of the moon. What other private citizen could say something like that?

[Roderick]

He'll be pretty miffed when Daniel Plainview buys up all the land surrounding him and takes away his oil through drainage.

[miffy495]

My bus driver to school on Mondays and Wednesdays looks just like Daniel Plainview. He's incredibly nice, but I always get just a bit freaked out when I get on the bus and see him. True story.

[Chuckpebble]

Oh yeah, well I own the Dark Side of the Moon. Really, on CD and LP.

*BADUM PSSH*

Oh, sorry, had to.

[elmuerte]

*BADUM PSSH*

This is the internet, here we have this

[Marek]

There is a UN treaty prohibiting governments from claiming ownership over any celestial bodies (or for that matter the land on it), however there's no such treaty preventing private companies or individuals from doing so.

There's been some silly companies selling parcels of moon land since the 90s. I doubt anyone would honor your little moon land certificate of ownership if you had one though. Personally I think if you manage to build a house on the moon then you are probably awesome and should have the surrounding land as your fair and just reward.

[syntheticgerbil]

Fuck yeah, privatize that moon to hell! Put a Chipotle there!

[OssK]

Well, I might be overthinking that but that won't be the first time :

Le premier qui ayant enclos un terrain s'avisa de dire : " Ceci est à moi" et trouva assez de gens assez simples pour le croire, fut le vrai fondateur de la société civile. Que de crimes, de guerres, de meurtres, que de misères, que d'horreurs n'eût point épargné au genre humain celui qui arrachant les pieux ou comblant les fossés, eût crié à ses semblables : " Gardez-vous d'écouter cet imposteur, vous êtes perdus si vous oubliez que les fruits sont à tous, et que la terre n'est à personne.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

[Murdoc]

I believe the idea is that it goes back to some still-standing colonization law. Basically, because he owns a robot which has explored 40kms of the moon's surface, and this territory does not belong to any government, he has the right to claim it as his property. It may not stand up, nor may he or anyone else ever actually take it seriously, but it's still a weird and interesting thing. Dude could at least make a defensible case in international court for owning a chunk of the moon. What other private citizen could say something like that?

Who's law is that? My personal colonization law is if its 384000 km away from any government, whoever actually stands on it and has the most guns gets the claim.

So yeah, I'm anticipating for some territorial disputes in 2020 and then the eventual secession from whatever earthly government trys to control us; whether it be under my own banner or fighting for lord british and his moon castle in 2040.

edit: Flash thought; Richard Garriot designs bioshock 3 as his mien kampf about an illusive billioniare building new rapture on the moon which in turns is the highest grossing product ever, earning him trillions in royalties in which he goes and builds new rapture and a castle on the moon.

[OssK]

Oh…*Right…*People don't speak french in this part of town, here goes :

The first man who, having enclosed a parcel of land, worded out "This is mine" and could find people around him, simple enough to heed his words, was the real founder of our civil society.

Oh how many crimes, how many murders, how much misery, horror would humankind have avoided if one had stood up and, pulling out the fences, covering the ditches, would have said to his kins "Do not listen to this impostor, you are lost if you forget that fruits are for everyone to take and earth belongs to no one"

[Hermie]

Pff, everybody knows that that George Mellies and his council of Wizard astronomers were the first to the moon, in 1902, and thus have the claim to it:

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[Psych]

Like the wild west there are no laws on the moon, the only claim any man can have to land up there is his own ability to defend it.

[Roderick]

In truth, colonization of the moon will be so impossibly expensive and difficult, that no single man or small group will be able to pull it off by himself without the support of some major financing and tech help. The moon is destined to be colonized either by governments or companies. Not a bad thing persé, but it's never going to be a 'wild west'

Myself, I'm heading for Titan, to mine liquid methane and sell it to stupid Earthlings for money.

[Nachimir]

In truth, colonization of the moon will be so impossibly expensive and difficult, that no single man or small group will be able to pull it off by himself without the support of some major financing and tech help. The moon is destined to be colonized either by governments or companies.

Well, at first. Most things trickle down to the individual, things we can do alone our ancestors found unthinkable. I think you're right though, in that it'll be exclusively within reach of states and commerce for a long time.

Was the thread title an intentional reference to Gil Scott-Heron?

[Marek]

When we colonize the moon we should just do it wiki-style.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Fuck it. I hereby stake my claim as sole owner of The Moon.

Woo! I'm gonna be rich when the inevitable lunar property explosion starts

[gdf]

This thread has weirdly horrible echoes of The Martian Chronicles.

Richard Garriot is pretty badass, I hope Chris brings this up and maybe writes a song about it. This or "No. ...You Hang Up."

[Brannigan]

Futurama already taught us that Al Gore will be the Emperor of the Moon in a thousand years.

That and there's whalers on the moon, and they carry a harpoon. But there's no whales so they tell tall tales. They're whalers on the moon.