Overview of 5th convention

Adrian · 2002-08-20 13:32:55

Patrick Banks, who recently wrote a retrospective for New Mars that's now on the main New Mars website, emailed me a short account of the fifth convention that I thought might interest readers here (he of course gave permission for it to be reproduced). The account follows:

As for this year's convention, attendance was down this year - about 400 people registered. Of course, there were a lot of interesting talks. The Friday night panel was a panel discussion about who should own Mars. Rashmi Mayur, an official from the UN, didn't talk so much about Mars as he did about the dire state of the global environment. When he did talk about Mars, he said it should belong to humankind in some vague way. On the other end of the spectrum was Alex Lightman, American Patriot. As you might gather from his unofficial title, he is of the opinion that Mars ought to belong to the United States. Now, I'll be the first to agree the U.S. is the only spacefaring country that can carry out such a mission, and that it will probably play an important role in settling the planet. When the subject of independence comes up, however, Lightman starts to sound less like Patrick Henry and more like King George the Third. Since the United States is likely to pay for most of the project, Lightman reasons, then those ungrateful freeloading Martians should put up with colonial rule in perpetuity.

The third and final argument was represented by Bob Zubrin. Bob, of course, believes Mars ought to belong to the Martians as early as possible. I think this makes the most sense in the long run. Early on, however, I imagine many colonies will retain closer ties to their sponsoring country, corporation or NGO than with their neighbors. As for how colonies will get started, I imagine some framework will be set up incorporating all three arguments. Perhaps a UN Trust Territory will be set up, administered by the space faring powers, and with ever greater local control as the years go on until Mars is ready for complete independence.

The Thursday night panel was about the impact of sci-fi on public opinion, Vint Cerf talked about his proposal for an interplanetary Internet earlier that morning, Sam Burbank showed us his National Geographic documentary about his stint at MDRS, as well as the usual array of afternoon track sessions about Mars Governance, latest robotic probe findings, etc...

The auction was interesting this year as well. Some guy named Richard Bromberg donated a bunch of old Mars pariphenelia to the Mars Society. Included were first edition books by Percival Lowell, ancient Greek and Roman coins featuring the God Mars, pornographic comic books from the seventies, and a 17th century engraving featuring Mars as seen from one of those new fangled telescopes.

So I had a pretty good time. Hopefully attendance will be up next year.

Palomar · 2002-08-20 13:57:12

[On the other end of the spectrum was Alex Lightman, American Patriot. As you might gather from his unofficial title, he is of the opinion that Mars ought to belong to the United States. Now, I'll be the first to agree the U.S. is the only spacefaring country that can carry out such a mission, and that it will probably play an important role in settling the planet. When the subject of independence comes up, however, Lightman starts to sound less like Patrick Henry and more like King George the Third.
and a 17th century engraving featuring Mars as seen from one of those new fangled telescopes.

*Ouch! And just how is Mr. Lightman taking that bit of criticism? Does anyone know?

As an aside: King George III's diary entry for July 4, 1776 was "Nothing of importance happened on this date."

I'm not familiar with Mr. Lightman, other than relative to references here. I'm hoping to get to the 2003 Convention.

As for that 17th century engraving of Mars -- I want it!!

--Cindy

Mark S · 2002-08-20 14:03:56

Did anybody attend the workshops about plans for Mars exploration, like "Mars Today" or John Brandenburg's "Mars X" ?

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#1 2002-08-20 13:32:55

Re: Overview of 5th convention

#2 2002-08-20 13:57:12

Re: Overview of 5th convention

#3 2002-08-20 14:03:56

Re: Overview of 5th convention

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