[LINK] Three links on population and science fiction

[rfmcdonald]

What the subject line says. I've saved some of these blog posts for a while, but I don't think they're stale.

• At Acts of Minor Treason, Andrew Barton takes issue with the ridiculous populations of the Starcraft universe. Starting from a total population of thirty-two thousand people scattered on three planets, the human population of the Koprulu Sector later multiplied into the billions--in the case of one world, Korhal, the population went from a bit over four million to decimation thanks to a nuclear bombardment to a total population of more than six billion just thirteen years later. All this goes to show that believable details are critical if you're creating a universe, else don't give them.


• Crooked Timber' Harry Farrell talks about Tasmania, drawing from an earlier Charlie Stross post to argue that in order to retain a certain level of technology, a society has to have a minimum population else it regresses, the case of the isolated and fireless Tasmanian Aborigines being a case in point.


• At the Long Game, Matt Warren mourns--not without a certain levity--the fact that space colonization, requiring the massive collected efforts that it will certainly need, will not be colonized by cowboys; Firefly will not be realized.