Re: So What if it's True?
- From: Carl Dershem <dershem@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 02:08:39 GMT
"Cambias" <cambias@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:1137561604.605450.146740
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
> Just suppose the recent surge of interest in the "Heim theory" turns
> out to be fruitful? Say, in five years it becomes apparent that the
> theory holds water, and by maybe 2020 it looks like relatively easy
> interstellar travel is in the cards? What happens then?
>
> I can think of four general outcomes (actually many more, but they tend
> to "clump" into these types):
>
> 1. A traditional SF space opera "surge into the Galaxy" as Earth
> governments race to build starships and claim useful bits of
> interstellar real estate. If said real estate is common, you get the
> "everyone has a planet" setting, with places like New Japan, New
> Serbia, New South-Central Illinois, etc. If the real estate is
> uncommon, then you get tense rivalries, strife-laden melting-pot
> worlds, etc. But either way there are humans all over the place in
> space.
>
> 2. A continuation of what we do now: a handful of humans occasionally
> go off on scientific expeditions, a smaller handful go off on joyrides,
> and the number of humans off Earth remains low. The extreme case is
> that we ignore space, only now there's more of it to ignore.
>
> 3. We find a full Universe, in which humans are one of many
> intelligent species, so there isn't going to be much of a "surge into
> the Galaxy" because it's already taken. Depending on the nature of the
> other species, this can range from "The Road Not Taken" to David Brin's
> Uplift universe in terms of human importance and influence.
>
> 4. We find Something Scary -- hostile aliens, killer robots, energy
> beings who want our women, whatever. Basically, the Universe isn't
> just inhospitable, it's aggressively hostile.
>
> Am I missing anything?
>
> The interesting thing is that in all these cases we'd be dealing with
> the changed conditions using effectively present-day tech. Sure, we
> can use our Heim Effect anti-gravity hyperspace flying saucers to get
> around, but once there we're going to be using laptops rather than
> tricorders, rifles rather than phasers, and no magical translators.
>
> Oddly enough, I think Outcome 3 would be the most desirable in that
> case. We aren't really capable yet of interstellar colonization, we
> certainly don't want to fight off the Berserkers with nuclear missiles
> and SDI weapons, and I'd rather not just ignore the rest of the
> physical Universe. A "full Galaxy" would mean lots of interesting
> alien civilizations to study and potentially learn from.
>
> Any thoughts?
Personally, I'd prefer something between 1 and 3 - yeah, there are people
(loosely defined) out there, but the universe isn't full yet.
I once did a series of papers (in a series of anthro classes) looking at
settlement/exploration patterns for interstellar expansion, using two
basic variables:
Speed of travel.
Expense of travel.
You can (as I did) use the various models we've played with here on Earth
(the Polynesians, the Europeans, the Chinese, etc) and work your way
through it there, or just goof around and see what's the most fun, but
until it happens, it will just be fodder for books/movies/idle
conversation.
Which is, I must admit, fine with me.
Who'd like to write such a book? FTL starships, but otherwise current
tech might be an interesting idea, if done well.
cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl
Grey.
.
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