> the power structures with which we launch from earth will be the ones which rule any new colonies. maybe in the short term. but in a frontier society prior social structures can change rapidly. many of the colonists who settled the new world came from monarchies with explicit class structures and strong religious conformity, but they evolved into much more egalitarian republics with a more secular (or even anti-clerical) bent. something similar happened on the frontiers as the formerly colonial societies expanded to fill out the new continents.  > the oligarchy that could plausibly take us into space is emerging. is it worth it? it might be. is the alternative to wait until we have ideal social structures on earth before we expand out into the cosmos? that could take millenia, or it might not happen at all.
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