human beings traverse interstellar distances and colonize extra-solar planets;
interstellar travel and communication cease;
some colonized planets, losing technological civilization, revert to barbarism and superstition.
Examples in sf:
Asimov's Fall of the Galactic Empire;
Anderson's Fall of the Terran Empire;
SM Stirling's and David Drake's "The Fall."
A tragedy? Certainly. But nowhere near as big a tragedy as the human race remaining on a single planet and becoming extinct here. A barbarian bigot remains a human being. He is our brother even if he would burn us at the stake for saying so. And, if civilization is lost but human beings survive, then they might rebuild civilization later.
Upward or, failing that, at least outward!
Good night and glory to the Emperor!
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! The fall of a great interstellar civilization like that of either Anderson's Terran Empire or Drake/Stirling's Terran Federation would be tragedies, but if the human race survives, there would be hope of rebuilding. THE GENERAL books gives us a fascinating look at one planet set during Drake/Stirling's equivalent of the Long Night as it struggles back to civilization. By contrast, Anderson only gave us a fairly brief glimpse of his version of the Long Night in "A Tragedy of Errors."
And it would be a far worse tragedy for mankind to be wiped out while we are still stuck on this single rock called Earth! Which is why I hope so much that Elon Musk succeeds in founding his Mars colony--because it would be a start in getting a mostly far too shortsighted human race OFF this planet.
Outwards and glory to the Emperor! Sean
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