Why does a family move to the moon?

Question

What cultural, social, and environmental factors will cause some of the first families - including kids - go to live on the Moon? Their reason(s) to go should be "realistic", and have parallels to other mass migrations in the past (ie colonization of America, America's westward expansion, British African or Indian colonies, etc). I think many reasons often seen in sci-fi, such as irreversible environmental damage on Earth, a massive war, virus, etc., aren't realistic. For example, "our atmosphere is damaged, let's move to a body with no atmosphere!", doesn't make sense to me.

I'm leaning toward some business endeavor - setting up or maintaining mines, etc., but that seems less like something one would bring their kids into. The challenge to me is that it needs to be "safe" enough a family would consider it, but "new" enough that they are one of the first.

Answer 1

Pirate radio. Who's to say in the future, broadcasting laws aren't being enforced by a stronger UN? Between the varieties of censorship that's been happening throughout the internet and more, I could see folks going off to live on the moon and broadcasting to earth like an old pirate radio ship. The UN specifically states that no country may own the Moon. The Moon also does not fall under the direct ruling of the UN since it's not a part of earth.

Theoretically, if Global broadcasting laws are put into play, the moon would not fall under global jurisdiction. If there's a population on it, it wouldn't need to subscribe to those law sets anyways since it is an entirely different land.

Families would go to avoid the over-bearing censorship and to raise their children in the freedom to express themselves however they want without fear of harsh legal actions.

Answer 2

Free land!

In the past, when governments wanted to get people to relocate to sparely-populated areas or areas that had been previously off-limits, they would engage in land give-aways selected by either right of first possession ("I was here first!") or by lottery. Land was free or at a laughably-reduced price. The only requirement is that the new owner had to live there for a number of years - no slum lords as we would now call them.

Currently the moon is under international treaty and no one "owns" it. If colonization is being encouraged, then this has changed and now the government (whatever that may be) might use a land give-away to encourage settlement.

Answer 3

One reason for settlement is simply for a nation to claim the space. Greenland is huge, but there's little in the way of Danish military presence... besides a few special forces who have a holiday with dog sled once in a while to enforce their claim by operating there. Or indeed how Canada forcefully migrated native peoples to their northern most islands to establish colonies (which didn't do very well) in order to enforce their claim there during the cold war. Similarly a nation may send people to the moon to answer an otherwise open question. PUN FULLY INTENDED. The moon is a pretty significant military asset, all things considered. I would be inclined to say moon settlement would have far more in common with what happened in Canada than the USA, given the potential for an at beast meagre population to be supported there. The moon is a hostile environment with limited resources, like the northern wastes of Canada. Not a wonderland of endless forest and farmland and bison and stuff.

Another may be ideology. You may like to investigate Cosmism (no not communism, although incidentally Russian in origin). Which is the belief that humans must colonise the stars, as it is our destiny. Somewhat similar to the Manifest Destiny in the USA for example, but far more specific and relevant. This originated in the beliefs of an orthodox Christian (Nikolai Fyodorov) in Russia in the late 1800s; being that God will not provide man with immortality or resurrection, he must use the scientific method to achieve these things himself. And then, well, if everyone is resurrected and immortal... where will we put them all? Of course! The rest of the galaxy. So man has to create space travel and the means to colonise other worlds too. And those mad ideas eventually influenced Soviet policy and led to the space race. So it could be a rebooted Soviet or Orthodox Cosmist thing.

Or it could be a penal colony. Because it's like new Australia. And your odds of escape are kind of impossible. Depending on who establishes the colony, they may send whole families there as punishment. Space faring North Korea? Eep!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Arctic_relocation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cosmism

Answer 4

Freedom and better life.

Why does a family move to the moon? There is no need to search some particular reason, some exceptional force, because of which someone will move family to the moon.
But if you wish one, take look at this

The antibiotic resistance factor MCR, which protects bacteria against the final remaining drugs of last resort, has been found in the United States for the first time—in a person, and separately, in a stored sample taken from a slaughtered pig.

Until biological threats are possible, they involve entry earth and all people living on it.
In space colony you have to control microbiological treats, it's a must, for successful future existence of colony. Nice thing about, you can do it, comparing to Earth, where you can't do it at the moment and in near future. Ability to inhabit space, does not automatically means that this problem will be solved on Earth at that time.

I personnaly preffer to move to space habitat, O'Neill style, instead of luna surface. But yes, luna resources will be handy in building space habitats, for first time.

Better live

You may wish to read Hunger, Malnutrition, Disability-adjusted life year

There were 793 million undernourished people in the world in 2015 (13% of the total population). In 2012 it was estimated that another billion people had a lack of vitamins and minerals. In 2013, protein-energy malnutrition was estimated to have resulted in 469,000 deaths. Other nutritional deficiencies, which include iodine deficiency and iron deficiency anemia, result in another 84,000 deaths. In 2010, malnutrition was the cause of 1.4% of all disability adjusted life years. About a third of deaths in children are believed to be due to undernutrition, although the deaths are rarely labelled as such. In 2010, it was estimated to have contributed to about 1.5 million deaths in women and children, though some estimate the number may be greater than 3 million. An additional 165 million children were estimated to have stunted growth from malnutrition in 2013.

1.5-3 million people just disappeared.
Puff and to non existence, just because there is no food for them?
A year, just in One f Year.
Food, Technology which we have for thousands years, We know almost everything about it, and no food?
Such a waste of human resources.

Even if they are stupid like monkeys, I can suggest 10-100 better ways to use them, then just let them die because of starvation. Sorry kids, just angry like hell at that fact. A Year! In 10 years it means 15-30 millions of people - not many countries are bigger then that. Just Food. And yes, do not watch news, stay where you are, that a good place.

Do not let you to underestimate importance of food problem. Yes 1.5 million people died from starvation, but what it means for them who did't? How many people was killed just by others, to get more food for themselves? For how many it was a first step on wrong way to hell of stealing, drug, murder, rape etc? How many lives was just ruined by that mess, a part of which is created by lack of food, and which connections we can directly observe: lack of food and the result.

Probably I take that information more personally, then it is proper for public answer on pretty harmless funny-pony question. For my experience it's pretty hard to die from hunger. Between hunger and death from hunger, there is a pretty long journey, and if you will get little snacks here and there, times to times - it will take years to die. Thank ancestor's for that gift, humans are remarkably tough sometimes.
I could point positive moments of space inhabiting and most time I do.

But you may take it as a point of Man, who wish take his family of all people, who you do think do not deserves food to be given to them.

Answer 5

Overcrowding and Opportunity

The earth is a very busy place. For generations we have worked to solve our problems by building bigger and better machines. The entire surface of the earth has become a massive city with billions of skyscrapers blotting out the sun.

For those who are born without a silver spoon their mouths life is a harsh and unforgiving hellscape. Food and jobs are in short supply. Buying anything means waiting in long lines in crushing crowds. Upward mobility is a concept unheard of.

The moon represents a virgin landscape filled with opportunity for those who are brave enough to take it.