It would be delightful to share a planet or a volume of space with Ythrians and Merseians and deplorable if we were still to wreak destruction, on an even vaster scale, in future centuries. However, despite all its continued military conflicts, the Technic History has several positive features:
intelligence is embodied in many bodily forms;
sentient beings have spread so far throughout the galaxy that they can no longer be wiped out even by the destruction of an entire planet;
within the Empire, or even within Imperial space but on planets not yet contacted by the Empire, entire planetary populations can aim to live in peace despite the imperialism surrounding them.
3 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I certaintly agree with you about the need for and desirabitlity of there being peace. I would simply suggest that is not always possible or that it comes at the price of armed vigilance. After all, a MAJOR reason for the Empire's existence was because it protected the worlds within it from attacks from both barbarians and hostile civilized powers.
I'm also reminded of what Fr. Axor said in Chapter 1 of THE GAME OF EMPIRE: "But painfully plain it is that every oxygen-breathing species ever encountered is in no state of grace, but prone to sin, error, and death." That alone sets ups the conditions needed for disputes and wars to occur.
And, yes, it's mentioned how barely half of the stars within the sphere of space claimed by Terra had been visited even once by men or star faring species friendly to mankind. It's possible some of those undiscovered worlds had managed to live in peace (altho I'm somewha skeptical!).
Sean
This guy in his worldbuilding keeps mentioning his belief that a multispecies household would be like having pets, except better because you get the different points of view of different sapient species.
http://www.worlddreambank.org/P/PLANETS.HTM
Kaor, Jim!
Except these "pets" would not be animals, they would be PERSONS, even if non-human. And people from different species would need to be very careful as they learned how to get along with each other.
Ad astra! Sean
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