I think this debate is missing a few key points. Water World doesn't exist in a vacuum, except for the most literal sense.
* We do not know how common habitable worlds are. In a 'many worlds' setting, individual worlds may be considered the property of their discoverers. In a 'few worlds' setting, the homeworld governments would insist on keeping control, which might result in a complete adoption of their legal systems. * As habitable worlds go, water world is marginal. Even breathable air and a human-compatible ecology cannot compensate for a total lack of dry land. It might actually be easier to settle a vacuum world. Water world can't be settled by 'individual homesteaders' who then form a social contract, government, and legal system. Colonization must be either by individuals who organize themselves on homeworld to build a floating island as a condominium, or by (corporate?) investors who can afford an entire floating island. Settlers have to agree on the rules FIRST, before they immigrate. That opens the gates for legal constructs like a 'condominium of condominiums' for global (rather than local) infrastructure projects, or rules to waive certain rights (like free trade in condominium shares). Of course the second or third generation of water worlders never entered into the initial contracts, and they might want to rebel, but by then the initial system has been running for some time. But the system might have to adapt itself to the fact that people are born into this system which was not of their choice. One way would be to regulate what floating island owners can do - maybe even forcing them to become non-profit organizations ... Another factor is that water world will never be powerful in the military or industrial sense. That means they can't afford to go against the will of the homeworld on major issues like patent/IP law. Whatever they decide on must be compatible with homeworld legal practices. Onno Meyer _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
