Re: Madison Nightmare (Geopolitics in Jon's Universe)

On Tue, 9 Sep 1997, Joachim Heck - SunSoft wrote:

> Brian Burger writes:
> 
> @:) Have to agree with the above -- industrialization matters more,
> @:) really, than population base - and no-one can seriously argue that
> @:) the Scandanavian countries are technologically backward
> 
>   I Agree.
> 
> @:) The colonial effort would be slowed by lack of excess population,
> @:) but for many applications, what is needed isn't lots of warm
> @:) bodies but few, highly educated people to run machinery. I could
> @:) see the Scandanavians being a major supplier of specialized
> @:) machinery, and electronics, in the future. And the Scandanavian
> @:) mercs mentioned elsewhere could be one of the high-tech
> @:) 'Dorsai'-type units, not just a 'warm-body' unit...
> 
>   Maybe.  It definitely is hard to imagine them doing a lot of
> colonization since they just don't need it.  What I can imagine is
> Scandinavian natural resource companies going into space.  If we
> assume plant life on other worlds, do you know how much oil there must
> be in space?	Not to mention various metals and other fairly valuable
> material.  Of course if you're out in the middle of nowhere harvesting
> in highly expensive rocks, you're going to get jumped eventually.  So
> you'll need a small but highly effective defense force.
> 
> -joachim
> 
This is exactly what I meant - but obviously didn't get around to
saying...Scandanavian asteriod miners and interstellar oil magnates,
that
sort of thing. Same for the claim jumping and it's effect on a group's
defence force and attitude -- that sort of group would have a 'we don't
start fights but we do finish them' sort of attitude. Bad news for
jumpers
of any sort. Thanks for finishing my thoughts for me...:)

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)