"It's okay, I have a permit."

This week, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order endorsing the right of United States citizens "to engage in commercial exploration, recovery and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law.  Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global commons."

Now, from the perspective of global politics and outer space, this isn't a great moment.  There's a existing international agreement from 1979, the Moon Agreement, that stipulates that non-scientific use of extra-terrestrial resources be controlled by international oversight, but the United States has never been a signator - in fact, in 2015 Congress passed a law that basically said that any US citizen involved in the commercial recovery of "space resources" is entitled to them.

The new Executive Order specifically states that "...the United States does not consider the Moon Agreement to be an effective or necessary instrument to guide nation states regarding the promotion of commercial participation in the long-term exploration, scientific discovery and use of the Moon, Mars or other celestial bodies."

The key word there is "commercial" - the 1967 Outer Space Treaty states that nations cannot claim space or any celestial bodies, but the United States is saying that corporate exploitation by US citizens is completely permitted, rather like drilling for oil in international waters, and that they can keep whatever they find.  The new order does say that this should be consistent with applicable law, but then immediately announces that the existing agreements aren't applicable.

In other words, to quote Ron Swanson's permit from Parks & Recreation,  "I can do what I want."

From the perspective of a science fiction fan, this is a fascinating development, given that one of the common tropes of near-future science fiction is the exploitation of mineral resources as the driving force for expansion into the further reaches of our solar system - and eventually, other planetary systems.  This kind of development provides a logical purpose for space exploration, combined with an obvious return on investment.

However, the potential for disaster is epic, which is why there need to be controls in place.  As with undersea oil drilling , if something goes wrong, it's unlikely that its effects will be restricted to the area where the accident took place.  True, there's no equivalent to aquatic life that can be harmed, but the real analogy is that eventually the oil reaches a coastline - and in this case, we're talking about the entire planet, rather than a few miles of beach.

We're decades away from any kind of practical industrial exploitation of space, but if something goes wrong that results in asteroid mining debris or radioactive waste hitting Earth, it's going to take a lot more than a few drums of Dawn dish detergent to deal with the consequences.

- Sid

“There is good in him. I've felt it.”

 

Although I've never been a serious autograph hunter, over the years my modest science fiction collection has come to include a few personalized items:  my recent William Gibson autograph for Agency, the autographed copy of The Difference Machine that my friend Norah gave me as a birthday gift a few years back, and my mirror reversed Ursula K. Le Guin signature.*  Now, thanks to Karli's sister Lisa, I have an autographed set of the Epic Yarns Star Wars adaptations created by Holman Wang and his brother Jack- well, I should say we rather than I, given that both our names appear.

After meeting Holman Wang at an event in January (and buying us the first book in the Epic Yarns series as a gift), Lisa invited him to be a keynote speaker at one of the learning conferences that she produces for teachers in British Columbia, and asked us if we would like to have him autograph his books for us.

We somewhat cautiously agreed - we're fairly typical Canadians, which makes us reluctant to bother people - and Karli handed over the books the next time she saw her sister.

Mr. Wang was happy to provide his signature on all three copies, and although the return of the autographed books was delayed by the current social distancing environment, they're now back in our possession.  Our sincere thanks to both Lisa and Holman!

- Sid

* I also have a set of autographed comics that were written and drawn by my friend Wendy's partner Steven, but that somehow doesn't seem the same. I certainly value those comics, but given that I see Steve on a somewhat regular basis, it's not the same challenge, I could probably get him to sign something every time - although that might get a bit strange after a while.

Pandemic: The Game.

 

The situation is grim, and it looks like the end.  There's been a spike in the spread of infection which seems to have overwhelmed all of the available resources.  No combination of science, medicine, contingency planning or research seems to be able to hold the epidemic in check, and the clock is running out on finding a cure.

Not to worry - it's not the current global state of affairs, but rather the award-winning board game version of it:  Pandemic, created by board game designer Matt Leacock and released in 2008 by Z-Man Games, and followed by several expansion packs and upgrades since then.  (There's a computer version as well, but as the ongoing popularity of board games has shown, there's a kind of social appeal to sitting around a table with people - albeit not at this exact moment in time.)

It's an interesting game to play - my friend Chris introduced me to it over dinner and drinks at the Storm Crow in October of last year, which in retrospect feels a bit prescient.*

Pandemic is played co-operatively - as with our current global situation, it's you and your friends versus a viral enemy, except in the case of the game, there are four colour-coded infectious challenges threatening the planet.

Each player chooses a character role from seven options, each of which has a different set of abilities to contribute to the fight - Scientists need a lower number of cards to Discover a Cure, Medics can eliminate a full stack of virus cubes when Treating Disease, and so on.  The players combine these abilities with City and Event cards from the Player Deck to share knowledge, travel the world, create research stations, stamp out the centers of infection and to seek a cure for each disease.

However, as Epidemic cards are turned over from the Infection deck and the Infection Rate counter goes up, the spread of disease worsens, and as soon as the entire Player deck is used up, it's literally and figuratively Game Over. Players can also lose by using up all of the Disease cubes for a specific colour, or if more than seven Outbreaks take place.

Pandemic has an obvious applicability to our current situation, but if I were Mr. Leacock, I might well make some minor changes to the game's structure - I don't remember using Lockdowns as a control method, and it would be an unexpected wild card to have the United States withdraw funding at the global level.

Oh, and the good news?  Chris and I cured all four viruses and stopped the pandemic on the very last turn.   Let's hope we don't take it that close to the final round in the real world response - after all, we don’t get to play again if we lose.

- Sid

* I had intended to do a blog posting at the time, but somehow I didn't manage to get to it, which seems even more like it was being saved until now.