"Karlsarm had explained that the Free People laid out as many small, interconnected, more or less parallel ways as the traffic in a given area demanded, rather than a single broad highroad. It was easier to do, less damaging to ecology and scenery, more flexible to changing situations. Also, it was generally undetectable from above."
-Poul Anderson, "Outpost of Empire" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-72 AT p. 38.
To summarize, small, interconnected paths are:
easier;
more ecological;
less unscenic;
more flexible;
less detectable.
Also, the scents of mutant plants mask human metabolisms from chemical detection. The outbackers are extremely sophisticated wilderness-dwellers.
I hope that Poul Anderson enjoyed devising all these details half as much as I enjoy detecting and analyzing them.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure if Outbacker style "roads" would really be practical if the population was as large as reported, forty to sixty millions. SOME broad, paved, permanent roads seem to make sense.
I agree with you in hoping Poul Anderson enjoyed creating all these details as you do listing and analyzing them!
Sean
Also, it's a bit conservative in terms of surveillance technology; modern systems penetrate vegetation rather easily.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I should have remembered that, if only because of seeing such surveillance technology being used on TV shows/movies.
"Outpost Of Empire" was first pub. by GALAXY in its December 1967 issue, so I have to admit some signs of "dating" are to be expected. But your point was the small, parallel, "dispersed" roads of the Outbackers would have posed little or no difficulty to surveillance by OUR technology.
Sean
Yup.
It's interesting that many -weapons-, strictly speaking, haven't changed much in the past 50 years, and in some respects not in nearly 100. The rifles and machine guns and mortars that soldiers use now are the same ones that their fathers and in many cases grandfathers used.
The US military's heavy machine gun, for example, was designed in 1917-1919.
In 1919, a weapon of the same age would have been employed against Napoleon Bonaparte!
What's changed drastically in the past generation is -sensor- and -guidance- systems, and their integration via IT.
These are less visible, but even more important.
Just to give one example, there are now systems that can detect a sniper's shot and lay a weapon the source in less than two seconds.
There's another, just now entering service, that can be integrated into a rifle to turn anyone into the equivalent of an exceptional shot who nearly always hits the target.
Another recent innovation is coupling VR goggles to broad-spectrum sensor suites in armored vehicles, which from the viewpoint of the driver and gunners "disappear" from around them, giving them unparalleled situational awareness, and alerting them to and precisely locating threats.
For the last century and more, weapons have been grossly more capable than most of the people who use them.
A combination of sensors, guidance and modern training techniques can pretty well eliminate this gap; the consequences are fairly drastic.
Throughout most of the 20th century, a majority of damage in almost all forms of combat was done by a small minority of "aces", people with natural talent and the necessary disposition. It's now possible to generalize this level of performance.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Very fascinating! And, while I know some people tend to mistakenly think of SF authors as prophets predicting the future, I can't help but wish Poul Anderson could have anticipated some of these changes in military technology for "Outpost Of Empire." It would have changed how he wrote the story and, even if the Outbackers still won, the MEANS necessary for them to win would have to be different.
I do have one small quibble. I don't think the muzzle loading, one shot at a time muskets used by British and Prussian soldiers against Napoleon's army at Waterloo would still be used in 1914. There were fairly drastic changes thru the 19th century turning these clumsy slow to use muskets into quick loading and firing RIFLES. But I know what you meant!
And I'm fascinated by what you said about the use of VR goggles combined with "broad-spectrum sensor suites" can "disappear" armored vehicles from the viewpoints of drivers and crews. That will REALLY increase the effectiveness of tanks, as long as these senor packets are not damaged, of course.
Armies equipped and trained in the use of these recent changes in technology SHOULD be able to destroy things like the Islamic State IF not hindered from doing so for political reasons (or merely incompetence in their highest leaders, civil and military).
Sean
Hi,
We value classic sf by Wells and now also by Anderson both because it speculates about the future and because it reflects the period when it was written.
Paul.
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