Roger Burton West wrote:
On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 05:08:36PM -0400, Kurt Feltenberger wrote:
Oh...and don't even ask about [...]
near-c rocks...
I think it's pretty much axiomatic that a reactionless drive - i.e. "put
power in, get thrust out" - leads inevitably to kinetic weaponry. It's
just so _easy_ to get a Kuiper belt object and aim it at your preferred
target.
(I know that various incarnations of Traveller have had different
canonical drive technologies... I'm interested in the general case
rather than the Traveller-specific one.)
My own feeling is that if you have a working society with reactionless
drives - and for that matter civilian spacecraft carrying nuclear
reactors - you have fundamentally solved the societal problems that lead
to terrorism. Otherwise you don't have a working society for very
long...
R
How do you figure this? Looking at the causes for terrorism today, and
in the Traveller universe, it isn't always about resources; it's about
belief, oppression - or the perception of oppression, unwanted
occupation, and a host of other issues. So long as there is organized
government or social groups there will be terrorism of one sort or another.
Unless you're Zhodanai in which case everything is taken care of in the
Dollhouse, er, by the Thought Police.
--
Kurt Feltenberger
[email protected]/[email protected]
http://www.casademon.org
“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough." - Me
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