I was wondring if the alien species/intelligences out there would end up with hats... (See tvtropes: trope name: planet of hats)
I mean, humanity is very not homogenous, would not it be logical that not all alien races are going to have homogenized over all the time? (In fact, doesn't it usually go the other way?)
[post heretic] Will our aliens end up with hats?
Evolution will continue, perhaps not biologically, or naturally, but any large collection will grow and create offshoots that have a unique characteristic.
The Ares are a perfect example one of humanity's possible evolutionary steps: genetic alteration. There's also the mechano-man branch which isn't shown in Transcendence and then the Commonwealth which is basically the melting pot of human evolution. Pick and choose a few techs but don't change too much.
I would imagine the aliens would have the exact same outcomes. Aliens that enhance their bodies with germ line modifications, robotic appendages and hats.
The Ares are a perfect example one of humanity's possible evolutionary steps: genetic alteration. There's also the mechano-man branch which isn't shown in Transcendence and then the Commonwealth which is basically the melting pot of human evolution. Pick and choose a few techs but don't change too much.
I would imagine the aliens would have the exact same outcomes. Aliens that enhance their bodies with germ line modifications, robotic appendages and hats.
Coming soon: The Syrtian War adventure mod!
A Turret defense genre mod exploring the worst era in Earth's history.
Can you defend the Earth from the Syrtian invaders?
Stay tuned for updates!
A Turret defense genre mod exploring the worst era in Earth's history.
Can you defend the Earth from the Syrtian invaders?
Stay tuned for updates!
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george moromisato
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This is an interesting topic.
As always, my goal is to create a fun and engaging game while preserving Minimum Plausible Realism (MPR): as long as most people can willingly suspend disbelief while playing the game, then MPR is achieved.
Alien sovereigns are characters (in the dramatic sense), and as characters they need to be somewhat exaggerated so they can be distinguishable.
[Arguably, I haven't done a good job at that in the existing sovereigns. Here's a quick experiement: Describe a sovereign in Transcendence without referring to their ships or stations. What makes (e.g.) the Kobol Warlords different from the Ranx?]
The reason TV and movies have homogenized aliens/cultures is that it highlights their essence and character. If these fictional cultures were more realistic (i.e., more heterogeneous) then (a) any special characteristic would be diluted, and (b) it would be harder to tell the difference between alien sovereigns.
Another problem is that we don't know anything about alien cultures so we don't know what's realistic or not. All we know is humans, but are we sure that the current human society is a good predictor of what an alien culture would be like?
I think we live in a unique time in history: we have existed as a species for at least 50,000 years, but we have only had world-wide travel for about 50 years and cheap world-wide communications for less than 100. In that time, the world has become more, not less, homogenous.
Another recent invention is genetic engineering. We are the first generation that is able (but not yet willing) to alter its own genome. In the next 50,000 years, ALL humans will probably be genetic engineered to some extent. How will our societies change?
One possibility is that cultures will become species. Those cultures that share common ideas, values, and histories will also share a common gene pool. And cultures that are different will tend to drift apart genetically.
Moreover, cultures tend to co-evolve, separating from each other to stay distinct. This will tend to both homogenize individuals within a culture and cause cultures to diverge from each other.
The result is "a planet of hats". Each culture will be somewhat homogenous and distinguished from others in basic ways.
In the Transcendence universe, humans are split into sovereigns because of two forces:
1. The long travel and communications distances are fragmenting cultures (it is difficult to have a homogenous culture if it takes days or months to communicate).
2. Stations are small enough that they tend to become mono-cultures. [Because there is not enough room to have a lot of diversity.]
At the same time, humans are in the middle of the genomic revolution. Ares, Ringers, etc. have already split off from the main human branch and become their own species. Each of the sovereigns will follow at different rates.
The end result will again be a set of divergent species.
[BTW, this has happened in the past. There were certain tribes in pre-Contact America and in Roman-era Europe that physically deformed their heads to distinguish themselves from other tribes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_flattening
In this case, the result is "a planet of heads."]
As always, my goal is to create a fun and engaging game while preserving Minimum Plausible Realism (MPR): as long as most people can willingly suspend disbelief while playing the game, then MPR is achieved.
Alien sovereigns are characters (in the dramatic sense), and as characters they need to be somewhat exaggerated so they can be distinguishable.
[Arguably, I haven't done a good job at that in the existing sovereigns. Here's a quick experiement: Describe a sovereign in Transcendence without referring to their ships or stations. What makes (e.g.) the Kobol Warlords different from the Ranx?]
The reason TV and movies have homogenized aliens/cultures is that it highlights their essence and character. If these fictional cultures were more realistic (i.e., more heterogeneous) then (a) any special characteristic would be diluted, and (b) it would be harder to tell the difference between alien sovereigns.
Another problem is that we don't know anything about alien cultures so we don't know what's realistic or not. All we know is humans, but are we sure that the current human society is a good predictor of what an alien culture would be like?
I think we live in a unique time in history: we have existed as a species for at least 50,000 years, but we have only had world-wide travel for about 50 years and cheap world-wide communications for less than 100. In that time, the world has become more, not less, homogenous.
Another recent invention is genetic engineering. We are the first generation that is able (but not yet willing) to alter its own genome. In the next 50,000 years, ALL humans will probably be genetic engineered to some extent. How will our societies change?
One possibility is that cultures will become species. Those cultures that share common ideas, values, and histories will also share a common gene pool. And cultures that are different will tend to drift apart genetically.
Moreover, cultures tend to co-evolve, separating from each other to stay distinct. This will tend to both homogenize individuals within a culture and cause cultures to diverge from each other.
The result is "a planet of hats". Each culture will be somewhat homogenous and distinguished from others in basic ways.
In the Transcendence universe, humans are split into sovereigns because of two forces:
1. The long travel and communications distances are fragmenting cultures (it is difficult to have a homogenous culture if it takes days or months to communicate).
2. Stations are small enough that they tend to become mono-cultures. [Because there is not enough room to have a lot of diversity.]
At the same time, humans are in the middle of the genomic revolution. Ares, Ringers, etc. have already split off from the main human branch and become their own species. Each of the sovereigns will follow at different rates.
The end result will again be a set of divergent species.
[BTW, this has happened in the past. There were certain tribes in pre-Contact America and in Roman-era Europe that physically deformed their heads to distinguish themselves from other tribes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_flattening
In this case, the result is "a planet of heads."]
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Arisaya
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That was an epic closing remark.
Um, hmmm, interesting thoughts.
And conversely, what about inter-species cultures?
(IE, like a culture that encompasses multiple species)
Though for Kobol vs. Ranx, that's now possible to say with the new canon; the Ranx are miners, they have backstory, the fight the ringers & ares over ore, they oppose slavery of the ferrians (presumably they don't like the sung either, even if the 'slavery' of the ferrians is just propaganda). The kobol have no backstory. (yet).
(shpOrder gPlayership 'barrelRoll)
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