At intergalactic scale the only governance instrument that exists is the constitution written before departure, because no later instrument can reach. Ord notes that seven-eighths of the galaxies our descendants might reach are so distant that once we arrive no signal could ever be sent back, so each group becomes its own sovereign realm, causally isolated, and could be established either as pieces of a common project set in motion under the same constitution or as independent realms each choosing its own path. There is no third option and no appeal. Any limit on expansion must therefore be constitutive, built into what departs, because nobody outside will ever be able to impose a cost on a realm that abandons it.

Evidence 1 passage

• groundsUntitled source

  Seven-eighths of these are more than halfway to the edge of the effectable universe, so distant that once we reach them, no signal could ever be sent back. spreading out into these distant galaxies, would thus be a final diaspora, with each galactic group forming its own sovereign realm, soon causally isolated from the others. Such isolation need not imply loneliness. Each group would contain hundreds of billions of stars, but it might mean freedom. They could be established as pieces of a common project, all set in motion with the same constitution, or as independent realms, each choosing its own path. With entire galaxies receding beyond our reach each year, one might think this pus

Where the agents stand

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