tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post5809431733700472356..comments2024-03-27T08:40:31.785-06:00Comments on Clayton Cramer.: Novel: Chapter TwoClayton Cramerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-39900582830735103262015-06-28T09:29:27.076-06:002015-06-28T09:29:27.076-06:00Power requirements even more than technology seems...Power requirements even more than technology seems the biggest barrier to interstellar travel but imagine explaining jet travel to Ben Franklin.Clayton Cramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-65504874571508234962015-06-26T17:09:57.987-06:002015-06-26T17:09:57.987-06:00My high school algebra teacher Mr. Emch, dressed a...My high school algebra teacher Mr. Emch, dressed as though it was still 1955, and drove an absolutely cherry 1950s car. <br /><br />Yes, mopst societies change unless authoritarian or totalitariann methods are used: like N.Korea. Medieval Europe experienced relatively little social change for centuries. And yes, later chapters explore the changes, and how conformity is enforced.Clayton Cramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-96936334795836552015-06-26T15:37:32.565-06:002015-06-26T15:37:32.565-06:00If I read correctly, this society is essentially t...If I read correctly, this society is essentially the same as when it was created, a thousand years before. That's an extreme degree of cultural rigidity - <i>far</i> exceeding anything in known history.<br /><br />If it's now "on the edge of... revolution", why hasn't that happened long before?<br /><br />Suppose you meet a man, and get to know him. Then you meet him again, 20 years later. He's wearing the same clothing, eating the same meals at the same time every day, working at the same job, living in the same house with exactly the same furniture in the same places.<br /><br />Wouldn't you consider that man abnormal - obsessively and compulsively ritualistic?<br /><br />Also, acceleration/deceleration to/from near light speed? Without some kind of "warp drive", the energy requirements are colossal. The ship's kinetic energy at .95 c would be equivalent to 44% of its mass converted to energy; where did that energy come from? And where would it come from the second, third, fourth time after the ship slows down to explore a solar system? Plus thrust for deceleration.<br />Rich Rostromhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13262703348236110420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-32518663062113875832015-06-25T22:52:38.761-06:002015-06-25T22:52:38.761-06:00Not really fossilized as you will see but on the e...Not really fossilized as you will see but on the edge of ideological and spiritual revolution, like Rome.Clayton Cramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-49276798347309291772015-06-25T20:50:57.018-06:002015-06-25T20:50:57.018-06:00"Lounge C"? Sounds a bit threatening.
H..."Lounge C"? Sounds a bit threatening.<br /><br />However - I know that the "generation ship" is a well established SF trope - but it's not really plausible.<br /><br />A society which remains stable (fossilized, really) for over 1,000 years?<br /><br />Norman Spinrad looked at this a while back, and concluded that a population which is adapted to living indefinitely in a particular situation is settled in that situation, not looking to settle somewhere else.<br /><br />And think about being in such a situation - living among a few thousand people (at most) in a small habitat, in which <i>nothing will ever change</i> for many lifespans. There's nowhere new to go, no one new to meet. The only work to do is rote maintenance.<br /><br />Harry Harrison had addressed the idea even sooner - his "generation ship" crew was deliberately intelligence-limited and wired into a stifling artificial culture.<br /><br />A two- or maybe even three-generation ship could be plausible; but 20, 30 generations? This would be like ancient Romans expecting medieval feudatories to wear togas and revere eagles.Rich Rostromhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13262703348236110420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-82106159175569460622015-06-25T14:12:37.141-06:002015-06-25T14:12:37.141-06:00The three meter tall sentient bipedal felines appe...The three meter tall sentient bipedal felines appear about chapter four.Clayton Cramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-6813343156524513642015-06-25T09:37:16.015-06:002015-06-25T09:37:16.015-06:00Fun story. How did they eliminate the liberal gen...Fun story. How did they eliminate the liberal gene i wonder? And when will the aliens show up?Robert Langhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16497658569363397644noreply@blogger.com