However, the Nordic countries (just about the closest analogue to the Martian environment) are uniformly social democracies, mixed economies, i.e. Capitalist economic core with large socialist safety nets. There's a high degree of cooperation, not the caricature of libertarian individualism nor the strict, authoritarian communism or fascism of Soviet Union, the Axis Powers, or even the wartime Allied powers.Iceland as a model may work fairly well. Key is building a common culture, I think, ala Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy.
Quote from: laszlo on 12/26/2017 02:50 pmEverything it takes to survive beyond a few minutes will have to be, at least initially, imported from Earth. Returning to Earth is at the colonial agency's discretion, as is everything else. The colonial agency will have absolute life-or-death power over every person on Mars. Even a unanimous vote could be completely overturned in a matter of minutes (all ventilation, power and water shut off until populace changes its mind, for example).This point is going to end up being behind everything. No matter what social organisation goes on if it can be undone at a moments notice by an individual then it is not going to last.The American founders spent a lot of effort trying to make the political system intrinsically democratic. You can't be despotic without first being voted to be so. If Martians want to make their system intrinsically democratic they will have to include the physical environment too. It must be made impossible for an individual to destroy the colony. The design, construction, software must all be aware of the extra goal of only allowing the wishes of the majority.This will mean inefficiency and overhead in construction and function. But that is what a democracy(and capitalism) is: inefficient in service to a goal.So the talk of benevolent dictatorship and having a crew mentality is going to be unavoidable because in the beginning that will be what the technology embodies. Democracy starts in the design phase or it won't be available. I'm thinking it will be centuries before our moral and technical abilities are up to the task. But democracy has been a long march and so will this.
Everything it takes to survive beyond a few minutes will have to be, at least initially, imported from Earth. Returning to Earth is at the colonial agency's discretion, as is everything else. The colonial agency will have absolute life-or-death power over every person on Mars. Even a unanimous vote could be completely overturned in a matter of minutes (all ventilation, power and water shut off until populace changes its mind, for example).
You do want to avoid a situation like in total recall where they shut off air to part of the colony.