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Atypicalicious t1_j8lx7tk wrote

Reply to comment by SW_Zwom in Once manufacturing moves almost entirely into space and the workers want drugs, gambling and prostitution and wanted criminals on Earth can escape to space, the solar system away from gravity wells will become largely lawless. Who will do the policing and how? by [deleted]

I started a previous thread and the consensus from space professionals is that most industries will benefit greatly by being moved into space. Ships at sea have to land but spaceships won’t. The ability to create permanent space installations will make them havens for criminals. Coupled with the difficulty, risk and expense of sending law enforcement, that equals widespread lawlessness.

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aaronrules33 t1_j8lyc7o wrote

I’m confused how in your version of events it’s seemingly easy for general miscreants to exploit space-based infrastructure yet impossible for nations or corporations to have any control.

Are these guys just grabbing onto the sides of supply rockets and holding their breath? The entities establishing these installations, be they public or private, have the ability to do so but lack the capability to staff or secure them?

Explain how these vagabonds get to space and/or these various places, and then explain why any form of security force couldn’t do so at equal or more efficient means. I think that’s the biggest hang up with the whole idea.

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Atypicalicious t1_j8lyivr wrote

This is weird, rich weirdos would get away from prying eyes like they do now. And anyone with money could go. Crime pays, we’re not talking about street people but professional criminals.

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Leviacule t1_j8m0unv wrote

This is when you just give up trying to define others as criminals and accept that if you can't solve the suffering no matter how hard you try, then the suffering might as well just be accepted.

Who gives a fuck about drugs, and anything "slave like" will go unregulated like it does in the poorest of areas on earth.

I'd rather whatever economic system I participate in at that point in the future to not waste our resources fighting unwinnable battles.

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KamikazeArchon t1_j8m1sni wrote

"Professional criminals" as you're describing them virtually don't exist. They're a vanishingly small percentage.

Every criminal empire or organization of the kind you've described is heavily reliant on the rank-and-file, who barely get paid anything. You can't build a criminal organization that pays well; it simply does not work as a financial structure.

For every one high-rolling "mafioso" who can afford sports cars and penthouses, there are a hundred or a thousand street dealers and low-level thieves who probably make less than minimum wage.

The high-roller can maybe afford to go to space. The thousand street dealers cannot. And the high-roller, separated from the thousand street dealers supporting him, is just a guy in a fancy coat with a nice watch.

The kind of criminal enterprise you might get in space is white-collar criminality. Yakuza in space isn't likely, but Enron in space is.

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[deleted] OP t1_j8lxugg wrote

[deleted]

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Atypicalicious t1_j8ly0xj wrote

Read the thread. It was people who work in the space industry or have in the past. Detailed answers, too.

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Nerull t1_j8m03g3 wrote

Not a single professional in that thread said that manufacturing will move entirely into space.

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JustSomeoneCurious t1_j8lz0ub wrote

TL;DR - since infinite resources probably won't ever be a thing, space ships will still require ports of call, and will most likely operate under an extension of current maritime laws as agreed upon by whatever future collective of nations/corporations

agree and disagree - if you extend how ships at sea need to make port, ships in space will also have a similar need, unless space ships end up having a solution for infinite food/fuel/resources

In essence, whoever controls the the stations will most likely dictate/enforce the current or a variance of the existing maritime laws. Most likely, stations will be bankrolled by a collective of government entities, a la the ISS, or a corporation/collective performing the same function with massive tax breaks.

Criminal activity, similar to today's world, will be determined by what is considered illicit, and also constrained by technological advancements when we finally get there, but also dependent on the effectiveness of bribes/physical threats from corporations/criminal orgs.

Edit: spelling/grammar

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pig_valve t1_j8lykgb wrote

I would submit that by the time we have this much material in space humanity will have evolved beyond crime. As mankind today looks at our behavior in Neanderthal days, in the incredibly far off future, they'll look back at us as impossibly barbaric.

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