Suggestion - SciFi Co-op

[Harshax]

We can account for a huge human population growth over a period of centuries by suggesting that the sleeping colonists went about making the world infrastructure, while the facilities produced test-tube babies from a huge bank of genetic material to ensure bio-diversity.

Since the goal was to create a colony, the rising empire did not provide the new horizon with the proper equipment to develop space flight independently, thus ensuring dependence on the home empire, it may be that humans are a vibrant but minor populace among a larger empire.

[Harshax]

Originally Posted by Harshax

Since the goal was to create a colony, the rising empire did not provide the new horizon with the proper equipment to develop space flight independently, thus ensuring dependence on the home empire, it may be that humans are a vibrant but minor populace among a larger empire.

So the first shock is:
'What if Humans are not the most important creatures in the galaxy' - at least from the perspective of citizens in the new empire.

Second shock:
'What happens when these humans come into contact with a culture where humans are the most important creatures in the galaxy (the old empire).'

Third shock:
'The new horizon humans have some superiority over their "ancestors". Maybe close proximity to alien cultures have allowed them to evolve culturally or technologically in a way that was superior to the old empire. Would humans from the frontier pose react compassionately, or seize upon a moment of weakness when they first come into contact with the old empire. How would the predominant culture/species of the frontier empire react?'

[rust]

My copy of "Shock" should be crossing the Atlantic right now (not by ship,
I hope ...), so I do not quite know what to write ...

[Al.]

Originally Posted by rust

While I think the replicators would be an interesting idea, I would not like to
have anything of that kind in my setting, because it would very much reduce
(if not eliminate entirely) the need for interstellar trade - and with it a clas-
sic science fiction adventure source.

Or would it?

With replicators available society MIGHT move to a whole new model.

Presumably some people would be curious about the other systems, races, cultures, sights, sounds, smells and experiences and so would travel to experience them.

Also originality always has value. There may be no point in travelling to NewSol to buy porous electrical circuits when you can press GO on the machine in your sleep cube and get them. But once you've deep-simmed all the tapes you haveof the sparkling sapphire sculptures carved by woo-Lyn-Fan (and held the copies you made at home) would you not want to go and actually see it?

Also someone has to go and buy one of the newest data storage cube design from the Venusians for the rest of us Proximans to replicate at home.........

Then one day the wormhole energy conduits stopped working (along with our replicators) and we had to the other spiral arm and speak to the outsiders who gave us the technology and find out why



Al

[rust]

Oh, I do not think that replicators would seriously reduce the amount of
interstellar travel (because of all the reasons you mentioned), but I still
think that they would very much reduce interstellar trade.

So, while the total number of passengers would hardly be reduced (per-
haps even increased, because more people could afford passages in such
a society ?), the total tonnage of freight would most certainly go down,
and the lives of free traders (a typical SF RPG adventure character type)
would become much less attractive - at least from my point of view.

By the way, are your outsiders the Ringworld "Outsiders" ?

[Harshax]

Originally Posted by rust

My copy of "Shock" should be crossing the Atlantic right now (not by ship,
I hope ...), so I do not quite know what to write ...

I don't know if I'm using the term correctly either. What I got from the review of Shock and from the author's website, is that a good SF challenges the norm. It asks "what if's", and models a session, scenario, or setting around that what if, and takes them to its logical conclusion.

That's all I'm doing, is asking a lot of what if questions.

[rust]

Originally Posted by Harshax

That's all I'm doing, is asking a lot of what if questions.

Well, in this case ...

As for the first shock, there is an excellent description of such a situation in
the Uplift novels by David Brin, where humans are just a recently discovered
and very unimportant species in a universe inhabited by many extremely po-
werful alien species. It would be a bit difficult to describe the Uplift universe
here, but perhaps this could give an impression:
Uplift Universe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The second shock reminds me of the Perry Rhodan series mentioned some-
where else. There the Terrans have to come to terms with the fact that
they are the descendants of settlers of a lost colony of a very old and now
decadent, but still incredibly powerful empire.
In this story the humans at first attempt to hide their existence from the
Empire, not wanting to become a remote colony of it, and secretly study,
then infiltrate and finally take over the Empire.

We are already into the third shock, I think. I could imagine that the alien
species controlling the frontier empire would prefer to look the other way
as long as the humans do not risk to cause an interstellar war.

Well, just some thoughts ...

[Al.]

Originally Posted by rust

By the way, are your outsiders the Ringworld "Outsiders" ?

Er don't know. My post was really just a random collection of sci-fi-sounding names and terms.

On the gripping hand maybe Niven has had a deeper impact on my scifi assumptions than I realised


Al

[Harshax]

If someone doesn't beat me to it, I'll fire up one of my galaxy generators and post a map. Then we can carve up the galaxy and populate with all of our ideas.

Would that be ok?

[rust]

Yes, of course.