Freedom Engineering – Using Engineering to Mitigate Tyranny in Space

Abstract

The extreme conditions of all extraterrestrial environments restrict freedom of movement and encourage social, political and economic arrangements friendly to tyranny. However, deliberately engineered measures might be taken to maximise liberty in the space environment. For example, space settlements can be engineered to maximise the number of oxygen, food, water and power systems to disallow coercive regimes the opportunity to control single machines on which entire settlements depend. Spacesuits can be engineered to be easily manufactured and maintained, thus maximising the number available to occupants of a settlement and minimising the extent to which bespoke and difficult-to-service suits restrict freedom of movement. Other examples of this approach to engineering are provided, which we might term ‘freedom engineering’. Although attempts to deliberately engineer freedom into a settlement turn on the definition of ‘freedom’, it is suggested that objective criteria in the enhancement of certain types of individual and collective liberty can be used to determine when an act of freedom engineering is likely to be beneficial for a settlement. The space policy implications of these ideas are discussed.