Contrast Asimov's and Pournelle's sketchily described extra-solar planets with the details that Anderson provides about Hermes, Avalon, Dennitza, Aeneas etc.
For further discussion of this issue, see also:
Aldiss, Amis, Anderson, Asimov, Lewis
The question currently in my mind is not whether exo-planets have life but whether they have multi-cellular organisms.
See:
The Improbability Of Complex Organisms
The discussion is good even if not all the works discussed are.
Starward.
4 comments:
I *did* rather like the backstory on Sparta. It was found in a condition similar to late Precambrian or early Paleozoic Earth, with photosynthesizing life in the sea giving it breathable air but little to no land life. So humans settling it introduced land life from earth to spread so it fairly quickly became a pleasant place to live.
Kaor, Paul!
I do see your point, but I don't think all of the colonized planets seen in the CoDominium timeline were that sketchily described. Jim beat me to making similar comments about the planet Sparta, in greater detail. It's reasonable to speculate some planets will need some terraforming to be habitable.
Humans being what we are, and assuming FTL, empire building will be one of the things humans will be doing. Albeit different names could be used: federation, confederation, or even "league." And I recall characters in the CoCo stories grappling with the question of what political forms would work best. Another detail thoroughly discussed by Pournelle in his "Building..." article.
Ad astra! Sean
CoCo?
Kaor, Paul!
Oops, I meant "CoDo"! Drat!
Ad astra! Sean
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