"...Vaynamo...would have thirty-odd years to recover and rearm itself against the Third Expedition." (pp.127-128)
So why do the Chertkoians allow Vaynamo thirty plus year to recover and rearm between expeditions? More fundamentally, why do the Chertkoians not:
control their own population growth?
propose cultural and commercial exchange with Vaynamo?
Why all the destruction? Very soon in our timeline, humanity will either outgrow its Pournellean "There Will Be War" mentality or go under.
Poul Anderson, like Joe Haldeman in The Forever War, set out to write about time dilated interstellar war. And it is possible that, several millennia hence and a thousand parsecs away, some colonized planet will try to solve its resources problems the way Chertkoi does.
13 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Why did Chertkoi allow Vaynamo so much time for recovering and preparing? Easy! Arrogance, over confidence, defective intelligence, making plans based on hope, not realism, etc.
An mankind will never outgrow that "There Will Be War" mentality. It's simply what real human beings are LIKE.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But right now, when governments are either directly waging war or alternatively increasing military expenditure in preparation for further wars, they are failing to cooperate to prevent an imminent irreversible climate catastrophe. Thus, we do not face an indefinite future in which mankind will never outgrow war.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
If that worse case scenario is going to be what happens, then it's time to think of getting some "rowboats" to Mars, which Elon Musk hopes to achieve in a few years. In that case something might survive!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
How long before a colony off Earth can become self-sufficient? How big will it be? I think we need to be concerned about the global population that will not be able to leave Earth.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
We need to do both. As for off Earth colonization, the way to do it, inevitably, is gradually, in several stages. As discussed, for example, by Robert Zubrin in his book THE CASE FOR MARS.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But I don't think that the time scales of interplanetary colonization and of imminent Terrestrial catastrophe quite match up with each other.
Paul.
War feels more real to governments because they're composed of human beings; and violent inter-group conflict has existed as long as human beings and responses to it are in our DNA.
Humans are flexible; such instinctual pressures don't always prevail.
But it's the way to bet. That's because instinctual pressures are -constant-. You can thwart them by willpower, but the moment that's relaxed, back comes the default.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree. A ruthless tyrant might be able, for a time, to suppress such instinctual pressures. But they will come back one the despot is gone.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: or upbringing can do it.
Modern Westerners average a very, very high level of impulse control compared to people in most times and places, for example.
There's an early Renaissance book that outlines how a courtier should act, to show his civility and poise.
It includes things like not stamping your feet and screaming when you're angry, not going off into a corner and sulking and crying with your face to the wall when feeling sad or frustrated, and not throwing bits of food at people who annoy you at a banquet, as well as things like not picking your teeth with a knife.
By our standards, most of those people would be like grown-up toddlers; not to mention heavy-drinking grown-up toddlers.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, one of the things that marks a truly civilized man is learning self control. And I have heard of that book you cited, called I think, THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER.
Only up to a point, alas. We still have far too many people with low levels of impulse control.
Ad astra! Sean
Both,
Ages ago on this blog, I quoted a passage from CS Lewis' THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH. Ransom tells Merlin that he must allow himself to become a vehicle of planetary angels. Merlin blubbers with fear. Ransom reproves him and Merlin reverts to rational conversation without embarrassment. This shows Ransom the gulf between their two periods.
Paul.
There's also a "courtly love" manual, about the elaborate charade of submission to the beloved lady's whims a knight must show.
But it has an aside: what if you want a peasant woman? You couldn't go through the same rituals, because that would make her get above herself and neglect her farmwork. So the manual advises that in that case, you should simply throw her down and rape her.
Autres temps, autres moeurs...
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I remember that bit about Merlin from THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH. Yes, Ransom and Merlin came from very different times and cultures.
Mr. Stirling: and that manual of courtly love was wrong to approve of any kind of rape in any kind of circumstances. Some things are simply wrong, no matter the times or customs in a particular era.
Ad astra! Sean
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