Originally posted by RioRico The problem: Not enough hard vacuum here. The physical+social environment isn't rough enough. In a tough world, the stupid and impolite and unsanitary won't live long, at least not long enough to breed. Hard vacuum cures many personality defects. NOTE: I'm currently re-reading THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS. I don't buy the libertarian credo, and I won't go into the politics here. But it does make us see that our world (not just any particular society) coddles and even rewards stupidity and sh!tty behavior and sloppiness. Too bad the dumb & nasty & noisome can't be just tossed out the airlock.
If the Moon were your hard-sci-fi mistress, you wouldn't be tossing biomass out airlocks at the going rates. of boost-mass.
You think it's harsh *here,* try certain 'libertarian' notions in *space.*
We're not 'in space,' you know. (We are, of course, but...) That's not a trivial thing.
In a living biosphere, slapstick is funny. In space...Not so funny.