Walking the Space Plank
I last looked at Isaac Arthur's video about police in space. I guess it's time to look at the people who help the space police stay employed.
The way the video presents it makes space piracy seem inevitable. Generally raw materials aren't as valuable as the manufactured goods made from the material. The work gives the material far more value. As long as someone has taken the trouble of getting the material though it can be easier to become the middleman. An act of space piracy also doesn't have to be profitable in every case. A rival company could commission a group of pirates to attack a competitor. Causing damage or stealing a competitor's merchandise could put the unethical company in an advantagous state.
Space is big but so are the oceans. Space traders will likely have shipping lanes that are paths with the shortest route that use the least amount of fuel. That limits the area a pirate can hide and look for victims. Some shipments might be autonomous so the pirates just intercept the unmanned spacecraft.
The video points out that a society might consider space piracy an acceptable cost for a higher state of privacy. If spaceships want to travel without constantly identifying themselves or go wherever they choose without filing papers with a governing authority first their more likely to be targeted by space pirates.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
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