• Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Earths With More Than One Indigenous Intelligent

    From John Savard@21:1/5 to quadibloc@servername.invalid on Mon Jun 10 17:47:23 2024
    On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 17:33:59 -0600, John Savard
    <quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote:

    If two humans have _returned_ to Earth, then, clearly, they came there
    from somewhere else, somewhere which contains a large enough
    population of humans to be genetically viable.

    Having now found the story, I see that this isn't the situation; the
    man and the woman are the last survivors of a colony that it had been
    attempted to create on the planet Venus.

    At that point, I would hope that, since their intent is not
    malevolent, that they could be allowed to live somewhere in peace by
    the Clans. However, I fear the story won't have such a happy ending.

    John Savard

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  • From John Savard@21:1/5 to Nicoll on Mon Jun 10 17:33:59 2024
    On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 14:18:05 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    Five SF Earths With More Than One Indigenous Intelligent Species

    Imagining a world in which Homo sapiens are no longer (or never were)
    the only intelligent tool users on the block...

    https://reactormag.com/five-sf-earths-with-more-than-one-indigenous-intelligent-species/

    I find your optimism (about the Strange Ones in Day of Judgment)
    unwarranted.

    If two humans have _returned_ to Earth, then, clearly, they came there
    from somewhere else, somewhere which contains a large enough
    population of humans to be genetically viable.

    So if there are no more than two humans on Earth - and even if they
    were both male or both female (of course, two females plus a large
    cryogenic sperm bank could be worse than one male and one female, but
    let's not waste too much time on this) - that's no ground for
    complacency, as they could just be an advance scouting party, with a
    larger expeditionary force in Earth's future should retaking Earth be
    found desirable after making their report.

    And, of course, killing them so they can't report back is likely the
    best way to ensure a second visit by a larger and more careful party,
    so that simple and obvious solution is out. But convincing them that
    Earth is still so badly contaminated as not to be suitable for
    resettlement might be a promising approach.

    John Savard

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