Interstellar explorers must cope not only with extra-solar aliens but also with Terrestrials of later periods. In this respect, interstellar space travellers resemble futureward time travellers, like Wells' Time Traveller and Poul Anderson's Martin Saunders. "The Star Beast" and "Conversation in Arcady" both address this issue with respect to space travellers.
The Explorers
Earth became overcrowded.
Explorers departed, watched by billions.
With great difficulty, they discovered a colonizable planet and returned with this news.
Meanwhile, On Earth
Robotic technology was developed.
A Bio War killed most people but did not damage either buildings or technology.
The few survivors had everything that they needed and did not need to work and their descendants, still enjoying all the benefits of advanced technology, have no interest in extrasolar colonization.
One big culture clash.
This is what sf writers do: think of a premise, then think out its consequences.
3 comments:
The population would increase again, though.
It might but they keep it down. They are mostly uninterested in having children.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I reread "Conversation in Arcady," and I was not impressed by the kind of society Anderson speculated arose after the Biowar. But that's not meant as a criticism of Anderson, who was rightly willing to examine almost any possibility.
I was frankly repelled by the idea of descendants of survivors of the Biowar being content to live in pampered, bored, hedonistic idleness. With computerized robots making everything needed to live in luxury. All that these decadent Earthlings do is go from party to party, casual fling to casual fling, doing and thinking nothing demanding or worthwhile. At most, a few like Billy might read some books in long abandoned libraries; or Linda might dabble with a few watercolors.
What keeps me from completely dismissing these decadents as mere Eloi living off the robotic Morlocks was mention of Billy being armed with a gun. And that he felt compelled to warn the returned explorer, Owen, to watch his manners. It brought home to me that, even here, the innate human propensity for violence continued to lurk under the seemingly placid surface of Arcady. It made me think that the means chosen for preserving social order after the Biowar were customs incorporating duels or even feuds. People who came to be considered excessively rude would be challenged to duels. That might, for a time, keep the peace of Arcady--until something analogous to Iceland's Sturlung Age arrived to shatter it.
My sympathies are for the STL explorers who returned to Earth to report on their journey to other stars and their success on finding a very terrestroid planet fit for colonization. They had/have the right attitude: human beings should strive for more than mere survival/prosperity. They, or at least some of us, should be open to risking all to achieve great deeds and ends. Even tho that necessarily and inevitably means accepting the certain likelihood that some will fail, that catastrophes will happen. And that was Anderson's belief as well, as Owen's dismayed comments made plain in the story.
The explorers were right to abandon an Earth with such a contemptible society, returning to the planet they had discovered. The real future would belong to them and their descendants. I also noticed how even Billy felt some regret at the departure of the explorers, perhaps because he was inchoately aware life as he knew it on Earth was not right.
Mr. Stirling: I agree, I don't believe what we see on the Earth of "Conversation in Arcady" could forever endure. For one thing, how long could high tech last on Earth with only robots running it? I believe any hightech society needs human beings able to understand this technology and to foresee problems and breakdowns. And to invent innovations, advances, improvements, etc. Ignorant and idle people with no real education or experience would not be able to do that. I eventually expect machinery and robots in Arcady to wear out, break down, go kaput. The result will be mass starvation because these Eloi have no knowledge of farming, hunting, fishing. The survivors will be those desperate and clever enough to scrabble some means of feeding themselves and their children. And ruthless enough to fight and kill those who try take the food those children need.
I also agree that it's very unlikely population will continue to remain so low, even if, at first, technology does not break down. Because not everybody will be either hostile to having children or be content with just one or two.
Ad astra! Sean
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