For more about the planet Mithras, see:
This story poses two questions:
(i) Can a planet with a large and growing urban population afford a space program?
(ii) Should human beings colonize an already inhabited planet?
To answer (ii), Captain Yakov Kahn cites past human conflicts:
Amerinds;
Jews;
Arabs;
Moslems and Hindus;
Europeans and Africans;
a single country bringing forth Bach, Goethe and Hitler.
We can turn directly from one sentence in Kahn's speech to the morning news.
Within the story, Kahn settles his questions by force. However, the questions remain with the readers.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The mere fact, using Anderson's stories, that the Federation ruling Earth in the Rustum timeline, did use STL tech to explore/settle other worlds show colonization was possible. And if it was possible I believe it was right to make such efforts.
The successful founding of Rustum seem to have encouraged the Federation not to give up on space, at least long enough for several other colonies to be founded.
I recall Eric Sherrinford saying in "The Queen of Air and Darkness" that he hoped the human explorers who investigated Roland had known it was inhabited by an intelligent race no effort to colonize it would have been made. I agree that would be the right principle, humans would not colonize planets inhabited by other races.
Ad astra! Sean
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