Note to self

[james_davis_nicoll]

Even if the polity of asteroid city-states calls itself the Republic of Independent States, they probably won't refer to themselves collectively as the RISables.

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Because I am unoriginal and like simple models, for me asteroids are islands and therefore stuck with the social and economic issues that come with being a low population, isolated communities* and the RIS itself would have the essential unity of the West Indies Federation (which, by the way, is a state of affairs that is immediately graspable on an intuitive level for a Canadian; the main difference is Canada was lucky enough to have more reasons for unity than West Indies Federation had). Not sure if there is a cricket league or not.


* Although communication would be speed of light, direct rock to rock transportation will generally eat lots of time and potentially lots of delta vee. Indirect routes will save delta vee but add time.

Jupiter and its vast family of minors worlds on the other hand is clearly more like Srivijaya or Majapahit, a combination of useful physical resources sitting on a transportation choke point.