Sci Fi fans: what if WE are the "progenitor" race?

[CFP]

as a side topic, ever notice that most sci-fi is canadian in origin? Bioware is canadian. BSG and the Stargate series have a strong canadian flavor.

You realise that you only refer to contemporary sci-fi, which is tremendously watered down in intensity when compared to the '50's, the "Golden Age". There you had Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury churning out thought provoking and exciting "hard" sci-fi like clockwork. You had Herbert exploring religion, Vonnegut's unique satires, Wyndham's take on a flora-apocalypse, etc. etc.

These people aren't Canadian, and didn't live in Canadia.

As for TV shows? It's simply cheaper to film in Canada. See X-Files for prime example of TV series economics.

 

[AstroManLuca]

as a side topic, ever notice that most sci-fi is canadian in origin? Bioware is canadian. BSG and the Stargate series have a strong canadian flavor.

Lots of TV shows and movies are shot in Canada (specifically Vancouver). I've been watching the various Stargate series and I've seen a lot of the same actors that were in BSG. Some of them even appeared multiple times playing different characters. And I swear they've used some of the same shooting locations as well.

 

[CFP]

we're more likely to be the aliens from another world.

think about it. let's say that we find a habitable planet in alpha centauri and send a settler ship there.

That thing will have traveled for like 50 years at 1/10 of light speed to get there.

Fuck yeah we're going to take all the land and terraform the fuck out of whatever planet we find. even if there is a small sentient race of bipedal creatures on the surface.

And no, we're not.

To think that any species capable of terraforming, and interstellar travel would simply disregard indigenous life forms on new planets, and proceed to mow em all down Avatar style, is simplistic. Too simplistic. We, as a non-space-faring culture, have already developed enough philosophy and implied ethical rules to rule this out. Look at the great pains we go to to preserve endangered species on our own planet.

If a ship is capable of traveling at 1/10 the speed of light to Alpha centuri, (and it's more likely that the second star of that binary system would contain a planetary system with habitable planets anyway), you're talking about a colony ship. A colony ship aboard which 2 generations are living. The second generation won't have any qualms about not setting down on a planet right away.

 

[JTsyo]

And no, we're not.

To think that any species capable of terraforming, and interstellar travel would simply disregard indigenous life forms on new planets, and proceed to mow em all down Avatar style, is simplistic. Too simplistic. We, as a non-space-faring culture, have already developed enough philosophy and implied ethical rules to rule this out. Look at the great pains we go to to preserve endangered species on our own planet.

If a ship is capable of traveling at 1/10 the speed of light to Alpha centuri, (and it's more likely that the second star of that binary system would contain a planetary system with habitable planets anyway), you're talking about a colony ship. A colony ship aboard which 2 generations are living. The second generation won't have any qualms about not setting down on a planet right away.

As a collective me might not but I'm sure there would be the equivalent of the East India Company that would be more than happy to exploit the planet for profit.

If we do get out of our solar system I think we would be around for a long while.

 

[lord_emperor]

Basically, we're the ancient race that some younger expansionist race digs up and becomes in awe of the faster than light gateways that we constructed.

That would be boring.

 

[micrometers]

That would be boring.

btw, nice rig in your sig

yeah, I realize that the appeal of the progenitor race is that it frees us from doing the boring and frustrating grunt work of cobbling together space tech.

I mean, objective reality is that we'd be lucky to be able to settle Mars in one hundred years.

 

[CFP]

As a collective me might not but I'm sure there would be the equivalent of the East India Company that would be more than happy to exploit the planet for profit.

If we do get out of our solar system I think we would be around for a long while.

Exploit a planet, yes, but that's where the straw man argument ends. I refuse to believe we'd idly sit by and commit genocide on some new form of life. Think about it - it's a new form of life.

As in, we're not alone.

We'd destroy that?

We're better than that.

Or at least, curious enough to not do that.

 

[Scooby Doo]

We are Babylon 5's "the first ones"

Well at the end of "Deconstruction of a Falling Star", we had become first ones.

 

[thecrecarc]

Exploit a planet, yes, but that's where the straw man argument ends. I refuse to believe we'd idly sit by and commit genocide on some new form of life. Think about it - it's a new form of life.

As in, we're not alone.

We'd destroy that?

We're better than that.

Or at least, curious enough to not do that.

Perhaps we are good enough not to DESTROY them. But beyond that? I wouldn't hold my breath. Look at human history and first contact between civilizations....

 

[DrPizza]

What if the dinosaurs were actually really advanced technologically - far far superior to anything we have now? And, one day, they decided to take off in their space ships and move to another distant galaxy. Before leaving, they erased all trace of their technology.

 

[Glitchny]

..

 

[disappoint]

Perhaps we are good enough not to DESTROY them. But beyond that? I wouldn't hold my breath. Look at human history and first contact between civilizations....

Those may have been humans but hardly civilized ones.

Maybe the whole point of such vast space between inhabited planets is that before they are able to meet they must become more civilized.

 

[lord_emperor]

Exploit a planet, yes, but that's where the straw man argument ends. I refuse to believe we'd idly sit by and commit genocide on some new form of life. Think about it - it's a new form of life.

As in, we're not alone.

We'd destroy that?

We're better than that.

Or at least, curious enough to not do that.

Deliberately? No. But then some space cowboy lands his ship and sneezes and our common cold devastates every living cell on that planet.

 

[JTsyo]

Deliberately? No. But then some space cowboy lands his ship and sneezes and our common cold devastates every living cell on that planet.

very unlikely that our viruses could infect alien lifeforms.

 

[Modelworks]

as a side topic, ever notice that most sci-fi is canadian in origin? Bioware is canadian. BSG and the Stargate series have a strong canadian flavor.

It isn't about scifi it is about money. Canada has better tax rates so lots of film and media companies go there.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I hope not.

Our future is bleak and boring then. I want us to be the baby species of the universe, the ones who are a little late joining the party.

Because that means we'll probably get our asses kicked and we'll be better off for it.
Then again, we could be the galactic/universal badasses who are only so late to the party because we are so effective at bickering and fighting it out across massive wars that we stagnated ourselves.

What if we are the ones who are late joining the galactic arena, yet end up easily taking control of the empire over the span of a few generations?
I'd like to think we'll be the feared ones, due to our military strategic prowess... but again, we could be woefully at odds against advanced weaponry.

I've always liked the thought that while we may be a recent addition to sentient species in the universe, the rest of them have spent tens of thousands of years in virtual technological stagnation and have absolutely no experience with a race that advances as rapidly as ours. Our contact with them would only increase our rate of advancement, and increase their fear and consternation at the thought of this "baby species" that has risen to rival them so rapidly. I know it's been done in a lot of science fiction, but it always seems to put the human race in just the right place in the universe for maximum entertainment value.

 

[Jeff7]

It isn't about scifi it is about money. Canada has better tax rates so lots of film and media companies go there.

And plenty of nice land for filming on-location, with some restrictions on the type of scenery.

Stargate SG-1 made use of this. (A lot of their off-world locations were heavily-forested.)