Will There Be Borders in Space? 

It was great fun working with you on this, thanks so much for the opportunity.

The EU should get Europa, just to avoid any confusions.

I wonder if in 500 years they'll think of our current outer space treaty the same way we think of the treaty of Tordesillas. Just hopelessly broad and shortsighted and obviously never going to work once we actually get out there

I have always thought Martian colonisation would be more like Australia than the Americas

yup 📸 this one is going into the "look at in 75 years from now" folder

i feel like it wouldn't be a matter of if a mars colony would declare independence, but when. Like we should be keeping that in mind, the ability to control a colony months away has never been high, so we should just accept at some point its going to happen. When we get to the point of actually doing that, all of us may not even be there to see its beginning let alone it being self sufficient enough to break off.

My take has always been that one of two things will happen. 1) That Mars will unite to collectively flip off Earth's governments. Or 2) It will be a mess of near anarchic corporate city states.

@Khanubis THANK YOUU. I have been requesting this EXACT video from so many creators for YEARS. There are one or two attempts on youtube but theyre fairly shallow. The fact that we're entering an age astropolitics and its going largely undiscussed is wild to me

Honestly, when we move as a species into space, our planet might just have the chance it needs to heal, especially if we take the steps necessary to help it heal.

3:13 beware of Protomolecule.

Bro legit used KSP for his animations. And stellaris

I think I will only become optimistic for large permanent settlements on other worlds only if and when someone finds a reason to create a large permanent settlement in the Antarctic. If we can find reasons for people to move there and the technology becomes available for them to live comfortably in an inhospitable environment, then we are several steps on the way to settling somewhere like Mars.

Would interplanetary powers enforce strict borders on other worlds? During the colonial era here on Earth, borders were often fuzzy, and a colony might not hold de facto power over much of its claim. Perhaps Lunar colonies would impose their laws within a radius (e.g. 100km) of settlements and leave everywhere else lawless. That would be much easier, and the lack of oxygen means a lack of bandits to worry about

Oh, what a Great Question!! Love it!

This was an amazing video I love geopolitics of outer space, I hope this becomes a trend from you!

This is the kind of video I’d like to see.

What would happen is people on Mars would see no reason to obey a regime from millions of miles away and they would eventually declare independence. There really wouldn’t be much nations on earth could do about it because fighting a war at that distance just isn’t possible. Although knowing how humans are Mars would form it’s own new nations and they may fight each other.

Great video didn’t expect video about space

Awesome video!!!

Humans are quick to claim and establish their territory, like seen before in history… quite interesting, thanks for sharing!💥

Finally, a good video about Politics in Space Also love the For All Mankind clips, my favourite show

Awesome video idea

I love your choice of character!

God i hope we actually build space Colonies so we can offload some of our industries that are harmful to Earth into them, at the very least that would probably give Earth some leeway to heal or something.

Really enjoyed this deep dive into what the future of space colonization could logically look like. And of course, all the jokes!

Great video.

So in summary we need to unite first under one banner before colonizing the space

My view of how space colonization would work is that there will most definitely need some sort of united framework between us humans in order to even begin. And most probably, majority of the countries will be completely left out purely bue to their incapabilites. Only nations who are currently active in space have any chance to create some sort of united space order. That would basically be USA, Russia, Japan, India, China, France etc. These nations and some other ones will probably lead the space colonization and all other nations will provide support considering their own interests.

A true video for the soul

Laser 3-D printer used to print solid iron buildings from collected Iron. The easiest method uses magnets to attract iron from dust storms.

Isaac arthur really puts into perspective how wastefull terraforming mars would be. Much better to mine it down to nothing and build space stations. Much more population could exist that way. Or much more farms, wildlife preserves or whatever you want really.

To the stars and beyond! 🖖🏻

I love the slow growing influence of For All Mankind. The show is so underrated.

For my own amusement and in order to relax, I write Science-Fiction from time to time. One thing that I have thought about is that it is not inevitable that every planet has only one colony despite that reality being quite common in many novels. It is, also, not inevitable, even with faster-than-light travel, that people will zip betwixt star systems with the ease that one goes to the local store for a gallon of milk. It could be that travel from star to star will be costly and not done by everyone on a regular basis. How many people from North America and Europe who are reading this have visited Russia, China, India, Oceania, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Southern Cone of South America and Brazil, all in the past year? Why should it be different with solar systems, or even within this solar system, in the future? As for Mars, assuming that humans will be able to live there and reproduce, 'tis likely that several nations will set up research stations there that will grow over time into full-scale settlements. One could see an Arab alliance led by the United Arab Emirates with a settlement, and the United States, Europe, India, China and others, as well. Due to economics and convenience, these communities could be consolidated and interlinked. A colony might comprise five large cities with 90% of the population with the rest in outliers and outposts. Over generations, this could lead to each colony's having a true sense of its own identity. As an individual colony grows, becomes self-sufficient and more people have been living in it for generations, it may not just be that its members do not want Earth to tell them what to do and how to live: They may not want any of the other colonies to tell them what to do and how to live. The Musklanders living in Muskland may loudly assert, "Our capital is Elon City, and that is where our laws are made. We don't want other colonies to make our laws for us and to send in their police to enforce them!"

7:00 May be you should make out a series of videos out of our ideas. Some are rarely discussed, but interesting. So it would be great video.

I've had literal goosebumps when imagining seeing lights from a colony on a new moon... maybe someday...

My personal opinion, based on pulling things out of my... We haven't even colonized Antarctica, most deserts, our oceans, or the Moon. I think for the foreseeable future, it will continue to be unrealistic, dangerous, and too expensive to colonize Mars. Mining outposts and research bases, for sure. But permanently inhabited colonies? Not until interplanetary travel is as cheap and easy as flying a plane.

One nitpick, Nitrogen isn’t exactly uncommon on Mars. It’s the second most prevalent element of the atmosphere.

Oh no… what if corporations claim territories on planets. Like the East India Company, but instead the East Lunar Company

this is what V2 was for

Perfect opportunity for an Isaac Arthur collab

As a sci fi nerd let me just say that boarders is really complex if you try to do it in 3D space isnt going to work very well... sense planets and moons etc are always moving and such if you look how the expanse did it it could give you an idea how we could make boarders in space

If humans settle on Mars their genes will change and we will actually have aliens

6:09 regarding terraforming, the channel Kurzgesagt also made a video on a way to terraform Venus, though it’d probably take as long as it’d take to terraform Mars.

i saw those ksp clips

Abt what you said @ 7:02- you should DEFINITELY talk about those topics in future vids 🙂

0:08 City lights on the Moon will never be visible from the Earth. Earthlight is so bright that it never gets darker than Times Square on New Year's Eve. Exterior lights would never be necessary except when the Earth is a thin crescent. Then the only city lights would be at the very edge of the Moon and would be overwhelmed by moonlight.

I’m hoping there will be.

Of course there will be borders in space sooner or later. Clash of the civilization.

is that a map men referece :o

Ahhhh, Life really is the circle of time, technology pull most of us from farming and mining only to push us back to farming and mining in a different planets!

I REALLY hope bases on the moon and mars are built internationally so that only one government is built there, a united humanity is REALLY needed right now

It depends on the planet and its resources. If the resources are overly abundant or terrifyingly scarce borders will not exist (for different reasons.) Overly abundant resources mean borders are worthless as you can get what you desire with little or minimum effort. Terrifyingly scarce resources will force humans under the owners yoke or die from the lack of the resource in a hurry creating a submit or die culture. For those with but not enough resources (or lacking the infrastructure to get at it) their will be as it becomes a urunation contest about who has the most of everything and those trying to get into a game they will never be a part of.

Oh boy, I sure can't wait for World War Mars! Wait, why is the ghost of H.G. Wells hovering in the corner of my room?

Hi Khanubis

6:45 Stay away from da owkwa!!!

Bold of you to assume we'll make it out of this rock without collapsing from rising geopolitical conflicts or quickly decaying ecosystems.

They where already mining helium 3 in 2018 Edit: good job if you get the reference

Oh dear god no...i can only imagine how broken and disorganized and slow communication. I can only imagine how the Earth will possibly go into a state of being replaceable.

Yes.

13:03 Please tell me that was a Map Men reference.

1:01 We already have the infrastructure to support millions of people in a place we were wholly not designed to live in; It's called Arizona.

I hope so hard that we get rid of borders before we go there, and that we never put borders in space

Imagine if in year 4000 they have space exclusive economic zones

yup are future's going to end like battletech.

Probably

Probably be a lot like Antarctica, the rules around Antarctica are actually very similar to those of the Space use treaties. Probably will be a bunch of Individual outposts and colonies operated by different nations.

11:21 I think at some point rule 2 would just be ignored, abolished or modified. Such as saying “you can claim any land/territory on a foreign planet/moon as long as you have a presence there and the sovereign territory only applies up to the karman line (aka 100km or so above the surface). Any space outside of a planet/moons karman line is to be considered “international waters”.” Or something like that. Basically treating the vacuum of space as international waters while anything on a planet/moon up to its karman line can be claimed. Perhaps each planet/moon would have a different karman line?

With travel distances it is likly that once they are self sustaining colonies will become independent. This is honestly what would be ideal

Just as long as the enclaves and exclaves idea stays here on earth, we should be fine...

Explain the Kármán line

I hope there would be no borders to avoid mars wars or thinking that one country is better etc. With this mean that i hope that there will be a political group which rules whole mars and that we are just one huge but i mean huge country on mars later in the future

The thing with Mars is that they won't have anything to export that Earth doesn't already have a cheaper source for. So economically, they'll always be dependent on Earth's good graces. The asteroid belt, on the other hand, is where things may get interesting. They'll have enormous amounts of metal, even water and rocket fuel, to export. Maybe we'll see the return of city-states in the form of space stations. Maybe such city states will be founded by mining companies who got tired of paying taxes to an Earth-country, when all their business operations are in space.

I think any collonies in space need to be a common effort of humanity and not belonging to 1 or a few countries

Unfortunately…humans will always be in conflict with one another….eventually it’s gonna be like Star Wars more so than Star Trek.

Space belongs to all.

13:03 please tell me this joke was inspired by MapMan from the video about time!!!

Did you come up with selenography and aresography, or did you hear them elsewhere? It does make sense, it's not really geography if you're not on Gaia (Earth), and I like the convention of using the Greek names like how geo- is used on earth instead of terra-

Yes there probably will

0:48 totally agree with the Elon thing

6:40 it takes seven years to go to titan.. there will not be tourism.. but permanent settlers and robots building something small there is likely to happen this century

So if Mars becomes independent wouldn’t that make this hypothetical situation similar to the setting of The Expanse? I get The Expanse is SCI-Fi but I’ve always found the show interesting in both story and a more grounded setting. No shields, no FTL, just literal rockets with point defense systems and long ranged missiles shooting at each other.

4:10 oh god... we're becoming a "Late Space Age" pre-ftl civ with awareness 0

One people One world 😊

I at least hope borders will only be a thing of earth in the future

I love how you just slip up multiple times and call the Moon "Luna". Safe to day you watched the Expanse

Given current politics I could easily see a Plymouth situation.

Maaaaaaaybe lets figure out the geopolitics of Antarctica first...

yes it will and as an bharatiya indian I want my country resources at our hand we need resopurses we hungry for it literally we are growing and want more already we are or ISRO is preparing for interplanetary habitat and colony nuklure propulsion fusion and fission propulsion for deep space intra system means tea garden alfa century many more my prediction is superpowerswill have many planets moon gas giant and asteroid to there name

Heyka! Great video. Space is a very, very hostile environment, and due to physical limitations, the colonies will not be able to count on quick help from the founding countries. In other words, the colonies will have to cooperate with each other much more than they did on Earth. Therefore, I propose to look at the territorial development of the USA as a prototype of space colonization. The UN rules on Earth. For now, it is quite a weak structure - like the USA at the beginning of its existence - but it exists. Colonies/stations established on other facilities will be like "unorganized territories", but over time a bureaucratic cap will be established by the UN to better respond to crises on a given planet/facility. Therefore, we can expect the establishment of a state on the entire Moon or the entire Mars, which will be joined to the UN as one entity.

That’s easy… as long as there are borders on earth, yes!

in theory at least it should be much easier to refine metals and manufacture goods in a low gravity and no oxygen environment, hell you could essentially build forever infrastructure since the main reason infrastructure like bridges and roads collapse here on earth is because of weight of cars, weathering, and oxidization

All my For All Mankind nerds, where you at!?

Yes, there will be borders.

I doubt there would be borders in space it seems like too much of an inconvenience and space is already being treated like Antarctica

Any colony that can sustain itself without help from Earth would eventually form its own government and disregard any laws and treaties made on Earth. The question is whether it would be a planetary government or multiple national governments. There will be wars, dictators, revolutions, rebellions, etc. just like on Earth.

I think it should be if you can mine inhabit or defend it it's yours

Short answer: yes, as soon as anyone finds oil.

Very funny video ❤

Human will never leave Earth. Advanced Human civilization will go extint on Earth within 300 years