Conclusion two made shudder. Don't think I can go back to my cockpit without feeling like "David" (Haley Joel Osmont) from A.I. All I want is to be loved and have a meaningful existence in this universe, but in the end I'm just a disposable and insignificant meatbot, doomed to be killed and revived Cylon-style at the closest station over and over again, for all eternity... All I can hope for is that one day I'll wake up from my misery facing a giant alien, that'll show me some true purpose. C'mon Thargoids, I guess...
Elite: Dangerous is really dystopian, when you think about it
- Thread starter Brakespear
- Start date
Man, that was such a depressing film.
At the end of that, I felt more depressed than when Spock shouts "KHAAAAN!" at the end of the latest Star Trek film.
Great questions Brakespear. You could add to this the whole point of trading in the Elite universe. People in the United Kingdom eat 41 million tonnes of food a year, or about 112,000 tonnes per day. That's for about 60 million people - I suppose a refinery system with 1.2 million would probably need about 2000 tonnes of food a day.
When you consider that the more remote stations see barely 200 ships a week, you've got to wonder who is importing all that food.
When you consider that the more remote stations see barely 200 ships a week, you've got to wonder who is importing all that food.
Conclusion Three:
Dude, like, what if... listen, like, srsly, dude... WHAT IF WE'RE THE THARGOIDS :O
Incidentally, I've now had 3 jobs to carry beer to nearby stations in these food-deprived systems.
One guy was all serious about it, and wanted someone trustworthy to deliver his 6-pack. I guess he was afraid I'd drink it.
Dude, like, what if... listen, like, srsly, dude... WHAT IF WE'RE THE THARGOIDS :O
Incidentally, I've now had 3 jobs to carry beer to nearby stations in these food-deprived systems.
One guy was all serious about it, and wanted someone trustworthy to deliver his 6-pack. I guess he was afraid I'd drink it.
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@ OP...I clicked the link. Am glad it's available here in the US. Thanks for the lead. For those of you that missed it...
BEHOLD MY WORDS. THERE ARE 225,886. MOST OF THEM ARE SPELLED CORRECTLY.
ALSO, THIS IS A LINK. CLICK IT!
BEHOLD MY WORDS. THERE ARE 225,886. MOST OF THEM ARE SPELLED CORRECTLY.
ALSO, THIS IS A LINK. CLICK IT!
Everything you think you know is a lie. You do not exist. The credits in your non-existent bank account are not real. You are a jumble of pre-programmed memories playing in a loop because you are unaware of your non-existence.
Some interesting speculation CMDR Brakespear.
I sort of have the impression that the society of Elite is in a state of semi-technological stasis. They will continue to build things which have proven to work well - like our ship designs, like the various stations - but there is not the sort of mad dash to develop new technologies that we have in the real world.
There is some innovation, FSD is new, but in general it seems like the society is technologically rigid, probably reflecting an underlying rigidity in the political systems.
Anyway, all interesting things to ponder on those long exploration trips outside the bubble.
I get the same impression. I find it particularly interesting that the Eagle, a hugely popular and widely-used ship, is described as no longer being in production. Yet there was apparently such a massive surplus, new Eagles keep popping up all over the place. So in that situation, there's an absolute stasis - not only are they not making new *versions* of the Eagle, they're not even making new Eagles, yet nothing has actually replaced the Eagle.
OP: as soon as I read "Warhammer 40k" I thought; "oh boy.. this is gonna get dark, abject, and fruitlessly depressive.. possibly describing a mindless bureaucracy or some other horror" 
Interesting thought though; if all we see is Von Newmann machinery fulfilling their duty for no longer existent masters.. slowly grinding its way out among the galaxy inexorably.
And woe betide any who come upon them
Interesting thought though; if all we see is Von Newmann machinery fulfilling their duty for no longer existent masters.. slowly grinding its way out among the galaxy inexorably.
And woe betide any who come upon them
Soylent Green is made of Thargoids!
It's almost a bit game-of-thrones-y: The sciences are kept alive and things are constantly reworked and improved, but it never seems to lead to any great changes (except for the fast FSD).
Hydrogen fusion has been the main source of power for almost a millenium. Many ship types are just improved versions of ships that are several centuries old. Even expansion of civilization itself seems to have halted, the frontier has not moved much since FE2 (which was 100 years ago, contrast the USA Between 1800 and 1900).
My guess is that two of the most important causes of this are these; Firstly, there's a lot of science taboo. Artificial intelligence research, biological research (?), and research that can lead to production of Mass destruction weapons (?) is being hindered because of really nasty past experiences. This extends beyond all the conflicts and research into these fields are almost universally shunned.
Secondly, it seems that there never was an IT revolution at the same scale in the Elite timeline. Even in 3300, it hardly even seems like their computer tech is more advanced than ours. Might have something to do with the nasty AI experiences they've had.
I think it makes perfect sense to me though. Perhaps there is a skewed expectation since everyone currently alive have seen more technological advancement in their lifetimes than the last 50 generations (skipping the most recent couple unless the person in question is a centenarian) of their ancestors put together. I seriously doubt the current pace of advancement and discovery will continue for another 13 centuries; we're bound to hit a point where we've discovered most applicable/practical science. Just because we could one day create a dyson sphere or ringworld doesn't mean we ever actually would. Fusion is what powers the stars themselves. I doubt we could really hope to do much better than that and would be practically free energy; and really, "free energy" would probably be about the only "upgrade" left after fusion. Materials sciences (of which hull design is probably most reliant) are bound to hit the limits of reality as well, probably much sooner than energy or information fields.
Definitely. Their application of information science is quite lacking, but explained by the setting history; and if not for said history preventing it, would probably lead to a game that really did play itself. That said, it really wouldn't cost any lives to have a simple trade computer that allowed querying a database of commodities... the path-finding algorithms necessary for navigation course plotting are nearer to AI than a basic database.
They couldn't do that; Eve's lawyers would be snapping at Frontier's heels
Let me just call whoever has the rights to Philip K. 's legacy. They might want to talk with Eve's lawyers