[ExI] Homesteading away wildfires

[Adrian Tymes]

On Sun, Sep 12, 2021 at 1:20 PM Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Unbelievably despite having all these millions of acres of public land
> that the governments involved are declining to take responsibility
> for, California nonetheless has a pretty big homeless problem. I mean
> if people are defecating on sidewalks, maybe they are not hygienically
> cut out for city life. So perhaps this is a rare example where two of
> a state's problems can solve one another.
>
> What I propose is that the government offer deed of property to any
> citizen who firescapes and settles some claimed area of designated
> wilderness land in accordance to environmental standards with the
> payment of the first year of property taxes for that land.
>
> So now, in exchange for doing some manual labor digging and hauling
> wood formerly homeless people can now homestead and own several acres
> of wilderness that they can then roam at will, develop as they see
> fit, or live off the land, so long as they preserve the endangered
> species there upon.
>
> Thoughts?
>

Most of those who prove incompatible with city life, would also prove
incompatible with rural life.  Their defect is not city life, but a
responsible life at all.  They wander wherever they please (and can), glean
sustenance as best they can, spend money on booze (they freely lie,
claiming they intend to spend it on food, and do not understand why anyone
- even those who see them spend it on booze - should not believe them), and
spare no thought for either other people or their own long term situation.
They see no reason to clean up after themselves already, so they would see
no reason to clean up their area if planted out in the wilds.

Most of these people are incapable of learning, having lost or deliberately
shunned this critical piece of their humanity.  A mental asylum is the only
suitable housing for these people, but there is not enough space, and
difficulty getting them there.  If moved out to the wilds, they would be
incapable of learning to live out there: they would either starve, or
abandon their property and return to areas with enough people for them to
beg from.

This is not to say "most homeless".  A fair bit - likely the majority - of
homeless are compatible with city life, and would be quite capable of
maintaining an apartment were they to be furnished with one.  (Indeed, they
are sufficiently adapted to city life that what you propose would be a
hardship worse than they already deal with, though some might take it up.)
But you're talking here about those homeless who are not.
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