I am a committed liberal and also a futurist with a strong belief in the potentially benevolent power of science and technology. I love stories of future societies in exotic locations beyond Earth, particularly involving experimentation with social and governmental systems which enrich the human condition of the inhabitants of these worlds. Some of my favorite such stories involve the planet Mars.
When George W. Bush proclaimed his vision for an ambitious new space program with the goal of returning a human presence to the Moon and then on to Mars, I was stuck in a quandary. Here was my great enemy, one I'd ridiculed as one of the worst presidents ever, now supposedly granting my greatest wishes. How have I resolved this dilemma? Not by abandoning my hopes for mankind to move onward into the reaches of space, and not by embracing the focus of my hatred and derision as a great visionary. Because I am convinced that Bush and his cronies, far from being visionaries, are short-sighted criminals interested only in filling their pockets at the expense of our future well-being. But enough about them. This post is about Mars and the good of humanity.
I've loved stories of Mars since childhood... starting with the surreal adventures in Bradbury's The Martial Chronicles, through Clarke's Sands of Mars, Bova's Mars and the contributions of many others. The biggest infusion of futuristic imaginings came about after I joined the local chapter of The Mars Society and was introduced to one of the canons of the genre- Kim Stanley Robinson's great Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy. In the first of these stories, 100 colonists, the most brilliant scientists on the planet, land and create the first settlement under the direction of the corporate backed political class based on Earth. From the start there is friction between the scientists' independent spirit and the narrow focus of the mission administrators, which by the first book's end results in a bloody rebellion harshly stamped out at the cost of many of the first hundred's lives.
A major incident impacting the entire story occurs a decade or so after landing when a group of scientists responsible for the growing of food goes AWOL on Mars and remains hidden until the very end of the first book. The group is led by a mystic visionary Japanese woman named Hiroko who invents the Martian "areophany" centered on "viriditas" - a concept devoted to the glorification of the new life emerging on Mars. The defeated settlers take refuge with Hiroko's group beneath the south polar cap as Red Mars ends. Green Mars begins with the story of the life these people create along with many other groups in hiding in the southern regions. Robinson loves scientists, but he also loves the idea of people finding new ways to live together in harmony under very difficult circumstances. Many of the solutions these people find are scientifically derived- they're all geniuses after all. One of the greatest inventions is the economy they develop built around the idea of a highly practical gift trade. There is a real sense of community under adversity and a coming together of many different cultural threads- kind of an extreme melting pot in the ultimate crucible. Eventually, the various underground communities resolve to jointly draft an agreement of shared principals which will drive the development of a future government when Mars becomes free. The congress is held in a huge lava tube settlement known as Dorsa Brevia and it results in the following:
Work points for a Martian Government...
...One. Martian Society will be composed of many different cultures. It is better to think of it as a world rather than as a nation. Freedom of religion and cultural practice must be guaranteed. No one culture or group of cultures should be able to dominate the rest.
Two. Within this framework of diversity, it still must be guaranteed that all individuals on Mars have certain inalienable rights, including the material basics of existence, health care, education, and legal equality.
Three. The land, air, and water of Mars are in the common stewardship of the human family, and cannot be owned by any individual or group.
Four. The fruits of an individual's labor belong to the individual, and cannot be appropriated by another individual or group. At the same time, human labor on Mars is part of a communal enterprise, given to the common good. The martian economic system must reflect both these facts, balancing self-interest with the interests of society at large.
Five. The metanational order ruling Earth is currently incapable of incorporating the previous two principles, and cannot be applied here. In its place we must enact an economics based on ecologic science. The goal of martian economics is not "sustainable development" but a sustainable prosperity for the entire biosphere.
Six. The martian landscape itself has certain "rights of place" which must be honored. The goal of our environmental alterations should therefor be minimalist and ecopoetic, reflecting the values of the areophany. It is suggested that the goal of environmental alterations be to make only that portion of Mars lower than the five-kilometer contour human-viable. Higher elevations, constituting some thirty percent of the planet, would then remain in something resembling their primeval conditions, existing as natural wilderness zones.
Seven. The habitation of Mars is a unique historical process, as it is the first inhabitation of another planet by humanity. As such it should be undertaken in a spirit of reverence for this planet and for the scarcity of life in the universe. What we do here will set precedents for further human habitation of the solar system, and will suggest models for the human relationship to Earth's environment as well. Thus Mars occupies a special place in history, and this should be remembered when we make the necessary decisions concerning life here.
-- Kim Stanley Robinson, "Green Mars"
A crucial factor in the development of the Dorsa Brevia declaration is that it is created under great duress and with no guarantee that the nascent movement will not be obliterated. In fact, the odds are strongly in favor of just that fate. But the document demonstrates a deep faith in the future and it grants the adherents of that faith a profound strength to weather many ordeals to come on their way to independence. Perhaps there is validity in considering a progressive declaration under the oppression we currently endure under the yoke of the current corporatist kleptocracy, trending towards fascism and tyranny as it is. In a way we are just as much the underground as the colonists in Dorsa Brevia were.
Robinson's Mars trilogy is quite lengthy and contains a slew of compelling ideas which emerge as the story progresses. In further postings I will quote other sections which I believe illuminate some of the deepest flaws in our current system of government and the economic systems we take for granted. It all leads to a new way of considering history which is surprisingly optimistic. The eventual happy outcome is entirely dependent, however, upon the early resolve of the oppressed, their ability to meet and resolve their differences, and to give voice to a simple and powerful statement of their ideals.
Originally posted at New Worlds