Who owns the Moon?

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#1
As I sit here, thinking up threads to create, I was wondering to myself, "What happens if Donald Trump tries to build one of his skyscrapers on the Moon?" A bizarre thought naturally, but I get many of those! Who actually owns the land? Is it first come, first served? Are you trespassing? The same question applies to any other planet out there. Surely the earth does not have jurisdiction over trillions and trillions of planets.
 

The_Doc_Man

Founding Member
#2
I do. I own the moon. I bought a deed for it just last year. They guy who sold it to me said he needed the money so the was willing to part with it. He said he had already lost the lease to his office and was out in the street selling off his assets.

:):giggle::LOL::ROFLMAO::giggle:

It might be hard to find, but there is a collection of short stories by Robert A Heinlein including one that is titled "The Man Who Sold the Moon" - which is both story title and published collection title. I don't remember THAT much about it, but the guy in this titular story didn't actually sell the moon. Instead, he sold people on the idea of going to the moon, which in USA colloquial usage is "selling the moon" as an idea, hence the origin of the title.
 

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#3
Hey, I bought a square yard of the moon a long time ago - I got a certificate too. I can't find it so they will have to leave it undeveloped. :p

Isn't Trump going to send someone to the moon soon?
 

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#5
But if things out there are "global commons", what if we are part of a huge interstellar colloney and earth is considered a bit like the Isle of Wight in the UK? Who owns it then?
 

Bee

Founding Member
#6
I think that until our celestial overlords make themselves known to us, we are probably okay to carry on as we are. A bit like ants crawling over a rock. They don't know they don't own the rock.
 

The_Doc_Man

Founding Member
#7
The philosophy of the Native American on land ownership was that you only owned the land on which you walked for the duration of the time that you were walking on it. But then, they were mostly comprised of migrating hunter-gatherer cultures with no fixed location, no cultivation, and no belongings that couldn't be carried by horses on a pannier. So maybe until we can routinely walk on the moon and develop some of it, we have no particular claim.
 

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#8
Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the big foot of civilisation stamped on their ground and never left.
 

The_Doc_Man

Founding Member
#9
Sad but true. See also the movie Avatar, which is the story of greedy groups seeking something that someone else has - or doesn't even know or care that they have it. It is at least a parallel to the situation, though with a different ending.
 
#13
Jen, be nice and share! But my question is, what KIND of cheese? What it if is Limburger? Or worse, German Handkase? For purists, I should have put double-dots over the A to make it A-umlaut, in which case the A would have the same vowel sound as the E in Spanish "queso", and the trailing "e" is pronounced as a schewa, a linguistic name for a lightly voice "uh" sound.

My dad and I used to visit the local supermarket and sample their cheese section. They had pretty good choices. Once a week, he would drop by the biggest market in town and grab a small sample. He would come home with a small box of crackers and a small sample of cheese, which we would try and then discuss. Except for the day he brought home German Handkase. We both took one bite and spit it out. It was fresh, but it was some really pungeunt variety of sheep's milk cheese. Good thing it was a small sample, 'cause it was unpalatable. So we took it to the back door and threw it out for the local animals. Ten minutes later, while looking out a back window, we saw a cat trying to bury it.
 
#17
I look at it this way, Bee. When someone says, "Are you a man or a mouse?" my response is easy: "Where's the cheese?":giggle:

My poor, long suffering wife usually asks a different question: "Who cut the cheese?" :eek:
 
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