4 ms·

As others have pointed out, this is the most absurd thing. Resources are not scarce. Once you're out of your gravity well and have the tech to stay out of it, e

As others have pointed out, this is the most absurd thing. Resources are not scarce. Once you're out of your gravity well and have the tech to stay out of it, energy is effectively unlimited and probably any solar system has all the elements you'll need for whatever the thing is you do. All of this kind of sci-fi is just projecting earthbound colonialism/imperialism motives built around the profit motive and resource scarcity and power out into a universe where none of that makes sense. They're good stories by analogy but have nothing to do with the "reality" of the future-worlds they purport to describe.

ertian 3y ago
Well...and even during the most competitive and severe colonialist/imperialist periods on earth, extermination was very much the exception and not the norm.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  The worst extermination was accidental -- disease, or famine.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    Accidental? https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/229.html https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/229.html
    - ertian 3y ago
      There were instances of deliberate disease warfare in America, but that was already centuries after something like 80% of the population of the Americas was killed by diseases that early European explorers didn't even know they were spreading.
someuser2345 3y ago
We used to think that the idea of humans wiping out species was absurd; after all, there are so many animals out there that us puny humans can't possibly kill all of them. Maybe its the same with interstellar resources; once we master space travel, our energy needs will grow to an absurd amount.
Larrikin 3y ago
This isn't a convincing argument. A few thousand years ago North and South America would have been thought of as effectively unlimited resources. In living memory a gig internet plan would have seemed like an effectively unlimited resource in a world of 56k modems. YouTube and Netflix couldn't have even been a PoC when everyone was using AOL 2.5. I fully expect there to be ground breaking changes in my lifetime to the Internet if we get for instance speeds capable of downloading the equivalent of the entire Internet today. We don't know what other forms of life might do, but when humans have the ability to effectively consume a resource we push and find new ways to consume it all to make our lives better. Today we are only thinking of slowing progress (but definitely not stopping )on Earth because we seem to be making the planet unliveable eventually. If we begin colonizing other planets I don't see why we wouldn't continue the trend and end up in a galaxy where every liveable planet is populated and used like in Foundation eventually if there isn't some other form of life pushing back like in 3 Body. If we don't need to actually live on the planet we would likely accelerate the resources usage.

ertian 3y ago

Well...and even during the most competitive and severe colonialist/imperialist periods on earth, extermination was very much the exception and not the norm.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
The worst extermination was accidental -- disease, or famine.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Accidental? https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/229.html https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/229.html
  - ertian 3y ago
    There were instances of deliberate disease warfare in America, but that was already centuries after something like 80% of the population of the Americas was killed by diseases that early European explorers didn't even know they were spreading.

someuser2345 3y ago

We used to think that the idea of humans wiping out species was absurd; after all, there are so many animals out there that us puny humans can't possibly kill all of them. Maybe its the same with interstellar resources; once we master space travel, our energy needs will grow to an absurd amount.

Larrikin 3y ago

This isn't a convincing argument. A few thousand years ago North and South America would have been thought of as effectively unlimited resources. In living memory a gig internet plan would have seemed like an effectively unlimited resource in a world of 56k modems. YouTube and Netflix couldn't have even been a PoC when everyone was using AOL 2.5. I fully expect there to be ground breaking changes in my lifetime to the Internet if we get for instance speeds capable of downloading the equivalent of the entire Internet today. We don't know what other forms of life might do, but when humans have the ability to effectively consume a resource we push and find new ways to consume it all to make our lives better. Today we are only thinking of slowing progress (but definitely not stopping )on Earth because we seem to be making the planet unliveable eventually. If we begin colonizing other planets I don't see why we wouldn't continue the trend and end up in a galaxy where every liveable planet is populated and used like in Foundation eventually if there isn't some other form of life pushing back like in 3 Body. If we don't need to actually live on the planet we would likely accelerate the resources usage.