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The galaxy is so old that different civilizations could easily be millions or even billions of years apart in development. And look what happens when human civi
by hermitcrab 2y ago
The galaxy is so old that different civilizations could easily be millions or even billions of years apart in development. And look what happens when human civilizations only a few hundred years apart meet. So it seems unlikely that 2 civilization would be closely matched.
- theptip 2y agoUnless there is some sort of “maximum diameter” of each civilization, past which it either splits, stagnates, or implodes. In which case you can sidestep the assumption that development monotonically increases and the first-mover must win.
- AlotOfReading 2y agoWhich is more or less the case in the culture universe. Civilizations within the same "tier" are roughly comparable, and anyone who moves past the culture's tier ascends into irrelevance (excepting plot devices in excession and consider phlebas).
- ethbr1 2y agoPersonally, I think Vinge did a better version of this, explicitly segregating max capability zones and explaining how a civilization might persist over eons in a light-speed-is-a-limit universe.
- jayGlow 2y agoIn the culture series there is sort of a cap on technology. once a civilization reaches a certain point they tend to sublime effectively leaving the current plane of existence. This means most civilizations only last a few 10s of thousands of years at most.