The Man Who Would Be King (of Mars)

Podcast: The New Yorker Radio Hour
Host: David Remnick
Date: July 18, 2017
Episode Theme:
A profile of Dr. Phil Davies, an eccentric English country doctor attempting to claim ownership of the planet Mars by "terraforming" it with lasers, and a look at the legal ambiguities underpinning current space law.

Overview

This episode explores the story of Dr. Phil Davies, a general practitioner from England who is making a real—albeit quixotic—bid to claim Mars as his own. Through entertaining narration and interviews, host David Remnick and New Yorker contributor Simon Parkin investigate Davies’ eccentric quest, the unusual legal logic behind it, and the broader implications for space exploitation and international law. The episode mixes humor and earnest exploration, using Davies’ character as a window onto the rapidly shifting and often ambiguous legal and ethical territory of 21st-century space activities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Who Is Dr. Phil Davies, and What Is He Up To?

• Introduction to Dr. Phil Davies
  • Dr. Phil is described as a "local eccentric" from Farnham, Surrey, who spends his nights firing high-powered lasers at the planet Mars ([05:17]).
  • He believes that these lasers, aimed via telescope at Mars, are subtly warming its surface, which in technical terms, could be described as infinitesimal "terraforming" ([08:08]):

    “When Phil shoots one of these monster lasers at Mars, he sends a beam of photons through the Earth's atmosphere, across 34 million miles of space, and to the surface of the planet. A lot of those photons spin off into the darkness, but some hit the mark. Those photons heat up the surface of Mars ever so slightly, infinitesimally.” — Simon Parkin ([08:08])

• Legal Justification for Claiming Mars
  • Dr. Phil has researched international law surrounding land claims, notably drawing on portions of precedent that require “intent to possess” and some “early effort to improve” the land ([10:12]):

    “You literally have to show intent to possess and also ideally, show some early effort to improve the land to make it ready for human settlement and trade. And so if you think about it, that's kind of what I've been trying to do with Mars.” — Dr. Phil Davies ([10:12])

2. The Outer Space Treaty and Its Loopholes

• Background on the Treaty
  • The 1967 Outer Space Treaty forms the bedrock of current international space law, intended to keep nukes out of space and prevent sovereign claims on celestial bodies, but it’s only three pages long and vague about many modern scenarios ([13:39]).
• Contemporary Exploitation of Vague Law
  • New private space ventures (e.g., asteroid mining, space tourism) are interpreting the treaty’s ambiguities to suit their interests ([14:35]), leading to global “race to the bottom” risks as national laws increasingly favor their own industries.

    “What we're going to end up with is a race to the bottom where everybody just wants to adopt legislation that is going to spur their own national industry. There's not really going to be much left of the general spirit of the Outer Space Treaty, which is very much one of international cooperation of peaceful exploration...” — Dr. Philippe de Man, space law expert ([15:01])

3. Dr. Phil’s Endgame: Forcing a Rethink of Space Law

• Not About Ruling Mars
  • Despite his affection for the “king of Mars” moniker, the real aim is to expose the weaknesses of current space treaties and force the UN to modernize legal frameworks ([16:21]):

    “If I could develop a claim that actually did have some legal merit and then say, right, look, the Space treaty has too many holes to even stop a claim like that. Now come on. That'll embarrass them and that will make them update it.” — Dr. Phil Davies ([16:21])

• Tactics: Legal Petitions and Selling Plots
  • To bolster his claim and apply pressure, Dr. Phil has sent proposals to the UN and sells “deeds” to plots on Mars—not as novelties, but intended as real legal claims ([11:40]):

    “Given that there are people out there charging guys $25 for one acre of celestial land, which is just a novelty deed, we're actually saying, hey, have 100,000 acres for a dollar or a cent... I've now got nearly 13,000 members.” — Dr. Phil Davies ([11:40])

4. Humor & Humanity Amid the Absurdity

• The episode keeps its tone light-hearted as Simon Parkin observes Dr. Phil’s humble equipment—“a laser that can be defeated by a piece of cardboard” ([17:24])—and muses on what kind of king Phil would be:

  “Dr. Phil will never rule a Martian colony. He will never be crowned king of Mars and he knows this. But I think he would have been a benevolent king.” — Simon Parkin ([18:24])

• Dr. Phil’s bashfulness when holding a rotating Mars globe:

  “So you're holding it in your hand now—you look kind of like a megalomaniac. ‘This is the planet that I own.’” — Simon Parkin
  “That is not the intention. And now that you've pointed that out, I can see how that could be misconstrued.” — Dr. Phil Davies ([19:01])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Elon Musk on Terraforming Mars ([09:35]):

  “Give me the fast way.” — Stephen Colbert
  “The fast way is drop thermonuclear weapons over the poles.” — Elon Musk
  “You're a supervillain. That's what a supervillain does.” — Stephen Colbert

• Dr. Phil on the power of his lasers ([07:07]):

  “I have got, legally, the strongest lasers I can get my hands on. I mean, our strongest laser here is 3500 milliwatts. That's kind of 3500 times stronger than the average handheld classroom laser pointer.” — Dr. Phil Davies

• Space Law Expert on loopholes ([15:01]):

  “There's no single state that's going to adopt a national law that says that their industry cannot go to outer space and cannot mine the natural resources...” — Dr. Philippe de Man

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:39 – 03:39: Satirical piece on the “quitting my job to travel the world” cliché; sets up the episode’s tone.
• 04:15 – 05:17: Elon Musk’s vision for Mars colonization & intro to Dr. Phil Davies.
• 05:17 – 10:39: Simon Parkin meets Dr. Phil; lasers, terraforming, and the legal claim to Mars.
• 10:39 – 11:40: Selling legal “deeds” to plots on Mars; crowdsourcing support.
• 12:09 – 17:14: Legal implications, flaws in the Outer Space Treaty, interviews with legal experts.
• 17:14 – 19:01: Seeing Dr. Phil’s lasers in action; musing on what it would mean to “own” Mars.
• 19:11 – 19:50: Episode wrap-up.

Tone and Style

The episode balances humor and insight, poking gentle fun at Dr. Phil’s quest without dismissing his underlying concerns about the state of international space law. It’s engaging, wry, and curious—true to the New Yorker ethos.

Conclusion

Dr. Phil Davies’ quest to lay claim to Mars with lasers is both comic and thought-provoking. His eccentric campaign highlights the increasingly urgent need to update outdated international treaties as space exploitation accelerates. Through the lens of one man’s imaginative experiment, the episode draws out big-picture questions about the stewardship of space and the laws that will shape humanity’s future beyond Earth.