#spacefaring civilization

[geopolicraticus]

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

Further Elaborations on the Coming Coeval Age 

An essay of mine, “The Coming Coeval Age,” has just appeared in Isonomia Quarterly for summer 2024. This essay isn’t specifically about philosophy of history, but it does touch on some philosophical problems, so I will consider some of these problems in the context of philosophy of history. In particular, I will discuss the relative complexity of terrestrial history, which is the simplest history possible in a relativistic universe. When we have access to different inertial frames of reference, and the ability to travel between then, history will be dramatically complexified.  

Nielsen, J. N. (2024). The Coming Coeval Age. Isonomia Quarterly. Volume 2, Issue 2.

Essay:              https://isonomiaquarterly.com/archive/volume-2-issue-2/the-coming-coeval-age/

Quora:              https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/  

Discord:           https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links:              https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter:     http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Video:              https://youtu.be/fvmCoRrBiEs   

Podcast:          https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/xkVzIKAcIJb        

Text post:        https://geopolicraticus.substack.com/p/the-coming-coeval-age  

[portraitperpetuity]

My characters, Gerlach and Otto Wilder.

[wraith-caller]

One thing that always gets me about the x files is when Mulder talks to some low level local LEO bumpkin about aliens or other fringe shit and they're like pfffft getta load of this jabroni! 😏

Are you fucking kidding me. If I was a county sheriff in shitsville, Iowa and a fucking fbi agent started talking to me about alien abductions my conception of reality would be blown to smithereens

[mikansei]

trying to figure out hsr's timeline is just pepesilvia.jpeg

when dates are labeled "AE" does that mean the WHOLE amber era, e.g. 2157 AE is the 2157th amber era, which itself lasted anywhere from 76 to 240 years?

was the swarm disaster in the 1300s AE ~770 whole ass amber eras ago (e.g. 60,000-180,000 years ago) from the present in 2157 AE, because that is an insane length of time?

the xianzhou fleet set sail in search of Yaoshi ~8000 years ago (whose years in what system???), and Yaoshi didn't exist during the swarm disaster, so is there just a huge gap between 60k-180k years ago & 8k years ago?

but the founding of the IPC is listed as occurring btw 1357-1387 AE, involving the same people who were presumably mortal, pre-Yaoshi, and didn't live for thousands of years, so that HAS to be measured as 30 years and not 30 amber eras?

but also the IPC claims one of those people contemporary to the swarm disaster is definitely still alive??? i mean sure they could mean it symbolically or sth, but man

man.

i understand the history fictionologists now. i too am about to start just making shit up

[beleester]

Also, while I'm here, a pet peeve:

Your aliens didn't just invent a spaceship, they invented the technology that goes into a spaceship.

In particular, they have access to enough energy to throw a multi-ton object through the air at orbital speeds (30 km/s on an Earth-like planet) and materials strong enough to survive being hurled like that.

Or in other words, stop doing the "aliens use ray guns that are strong enough to kill squishy aliens but not strong enough to hurt our mighty deathworlder bodies" trope (and its cousin, "alien shields can stop ray guns but are unprepared for the massive impact of an ordinary bullet.") Aliens are going to be familiar with materials that are stronger than the human body because they built their spaceship out of them. Armor that is tougher than a human body has existed since the literal Iron Age. Humans are tough, but not that tough.

Remember: Aliens Do Stuff Too

Okay okay okay. I’ve said this before a few times, but it bears repeating.

You can’t have Humans be the ONLY ones who do everything.

Your aliens got to space too, maybe even on their own!

Your aliens (probably) had wars too. (If they didn’t explain why)

Your aliens had an evolutionary history. They did not appear one day and then climbed into a spaceship and picked up your human.

Your aliens have accents and different languages.

Your aliens have bad days.

Your aliens can be petty

Your aliens fight.

Your aliens eat food.

Your aliens want to be their version of loved and feeling belonging

Your aliens do stupid shit.

Your aliens can do stuff Humans can’t.

A lot of Humans are X and Deathworlder and HFY and whatever phrase you want to call it stories have their Humans being these like, savior people. “Oh save me human with your binocular eyesight and ability to make war”

Please.

Your aliens aren’t stupid. They got to space too. They have civilizations too. They lived, they died, they loved, they had families.

The fun comes in exploring the differences. By all means, give your humans something that makes them unique, something that makes them interesting. But don’t give them everything.

Leave room for personality. Leave room for exploring the sames as well as the differences. Leave room for making connections from shared experience.

Just as boring humans are boring, OP humans are boring too.

But, I’m just some guy. Write your story. If you want your humans to be superpowered super people, then go for it.

[tlaquetzqui]

Because I am petty, all caseless ammunition used by humans in my scifi setting (apart from handloads) is manufactured by a company called Phantom.

[napstaboo]

I really really love hearthian architecture and design. I love that they’re a spacefaring civilization that’s capable of finding and repurposing advanced technology but they do so using wood and grass and duct tape. Their houses are wooden cottages and shacks, their spacecrafts are silly little wooden Frankensteins. And their village is so cozy and communal.

I just really like when technological advancement that isn’t immediately equated with minimalism, sleek and shiny, massive, hard metal kinda aesthetics.

[aldwirs]

In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time. They called it the greatest discovery in human history. The civilizations of the galaxy call it... MASS EFFECT.

[dumb-ghost-child]

Humans are weird: Music

Ok so y’all seemed to like the one about intrusive thoughts, so I figured I’d do one about music too because it’s a super interesting topic to me!

The “Guide to Handling Humans” was ever-increasing, but one particular article seemed to confuse many. Spacefaring civilizations had dealt with adrenaline, extroverts, introverts, those who had a compulsive need to pat everything they saw and those who wrote stories of worlds that never existed (called “fantasy”). But one thing they never thought of was music.

Sure, other species had music. But none had focused so much of their civilization around it.

Clara was chatting with Indigo one day, and the topic of celebrations came up. The woman smiled, a gesture Indigo had learned meant that she was either about to do something utterly wild or share an entirely insane story, and started- “Oh! That reminds me, a few years ago I went to this one music festival, right? And there I saw the most amazing bands! I mean, I did lose my voice for a week after but it was totally worth it.”

Indigo was shocked; “Human-Clara what do you mean you ‘lost your voice’? How does one do that?”

“Well basically when someone yells- or does some other stuff- too much for too long, your voice can get messed up. Sometimes you can’t speak, sometimes it’s just super quiet, but it goes away after a bit,” she grinned as she spoke as if this horrifying experience was a positive one. “Have you got music on your home planet?”

Xe thought for a few moments before responding, “Well, yes… but it does not result in losing one’s ability to speak!”

Clara laughed, another positive expression that Indigo had learned about, “Eh, that’s just sometimes. And it just happened because I was singing along really loudly.”

The more Clara explained, the more confused Indigo was. Humans gathered together in crowds that could rival the sizes of some armies in order to celebrate the music of one individual? And sometimes they would be too loud that they would lose their speech? It was shocking to xem.

“Plus,” Clara continued, “some people use music to help them focus or deal with sensory overload. I know a few people on other ships that do it- if you ever go to the Sarina-XI crew, you’ll see a few other humans walking around listening to music, it helps them keep their focus.”

“So.. who creates this music?” Indigo was now more curious than ever, xir quills raising somewhat in curiosity.

“Oh, loads of people! It really depends on what genre it is. But some of the most popular are musicians like Taylor Swift.. her fans are a little scary,” Clara laughed again, “you diss her in front of them and they’ll actually tear you apart.” Indigo’s quills raised more, changing to a color of concern, so Clara clarified- “No, they won’t actually hurt you. They’re just really dedicated.”

To Indigo, this culture was.. odd. Humanity confused xem once again with their obsession with music. Treating ‘idols’ like practically gods, worshipping them and their songs.

The Qu’ral were a people who enjoyed music. The humans were a people who worshipped it.

[inbarfink]

So here is a thing that I noticed going over the sort of weird expressions that Zim uses in canon. When Zim doesn’t know the human term for something, he will make up some bizarre word combination of his own… but he will hardly ever substitute an Irken term for it. You know, when he first comes to Earth, he doesn’t call Human children ‘smeets’, he calls them ‘worm-babies’. He doesn’t assume the Earth is controlled by a Tallest, he just calls President Man ‘the Earth Leader’. 

And that… makes sense, Irk is a spacefaring empire which clearly had contact with other alien civilizations for a very long time. Zim would have some frame of reference to know that, for example, Vortians don’t call their children ‘Smeets’ and therefore he has no reason to assume the distant alien planet he just landed on would use that term either. I mean, yeah, Zim is often irrational - but that’s one point where he is surprisingly reasonable…. Well, until he needs to think up what he assumes the proper inconspicuous earth term would likely be and comes up with the most ludicrous option available.

And sometimes, and especially later on in the series, it’s clear that he does know what the Correct Earth Term is but is just looking for an excuse to insult humanity again by using a derogatory term he made up. 

And, like, you know… yeah, it is actually kinda obvious why he wouldn’t use the Irken term in that context. He thinks Irkens are inherently superior to humanity. Calling human children ‘Smeets’ would be comparing them to Irken children which would be a compliment to the ‘filthy humans’ that he would not be able to stomach. And like, I know a lot of ‘Alien Among Us’ stories get a lot of their comedy from, y’know, cultural differences and assumptions clashing. But I would argue that while IZ does that sometimes, a lot of Invader Zim’s comedy is actually based on Zim’s immediately assuming Earth Culture has to be as alien to Irken Culture as possible, when they are actually not so different. 

But also I want to take a moment to address the one time where Zim does seemingly uses an Irken term for a human, and that’s when he address the McMeaties clerk guy as ‘Burger Lord’ in ‘Germs’4

Which is probably related to the Irken title for a high-ranking frycook being ‘Frylord’.

But that actually makes sense both in the sense of, like... this term is in use on Foodcourtia, and Foodcourtia, although clearly a part of the Irken Empire, is frequented by many different alien species. So due to the planet's importance as a galactic center for fast food, the term ‘Frylord’ and its derivatives have spread beyond the Irken Empire. Or maybe it was an alien term to begin with and it spread into Foodcourtia through its non-Irken customers. Whatever it is, Zim would at least have a reason to think this might be a universal term and not an Irken-specific thing.

And also, this is a rare occasion where Zim is kinda, like, trying to genuinely get on the good graces of a human and is treating human technology (SPACE MEAT) with an unusual amount of respect - and he just doesn’t really have the mental focus to start condescending to him right now. So kinda reflexively using an unusually respectful Irken term for a mere Human Fast Food Worker makes sense considering his emotional state. He’s probably too germ-panicked to remember he’s not supposed to remember his time in Foodcourtia as well. 

Like, yes, I am aware I am probably looking too deeply into the continuity of this one line. “Germs” and “The Frycook of What Came From All That Space” are so far apart in the timeline that the actual writers probably weren’t thinking about this, right? I just think it’s Cool that one can fit this little ‘Burger Lord’ detail so neatly and so consistently into the lore and with Zim’s characterization.

[shorberson]

Rolitagni's First Contact

I'm trying out doing some creative writing of my own for a change. I've been following the HASO tag for a while, and wanted to give it a shot. This is moreso designed to be an intro for a series, I guess. If you have feedback, I'd love to hear it!

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The spaceport was always busy. The chaotic noise of merchants peddling wares and hulking cargo ships being loaded up for long voyages never gave anyone a moment’s rest. But it was here that Rolitagni felt at home. Sitting in a packed lounge near the loading docks, she grabbed her second glass of Bulemoi, and made idle chat with some of the other workers around. Some were a little weirded out by her appearance; after all, Kemians don’t exactly have the best reputation or the kindest appearance. She could sense that much within the room. But she was familiar enough to the others that they didn’t mind. She listened to her fellow voyagers and their tales; tales of long journeys, of strange planets, and of other species they’d met across the galaxy. Though there was one species that cropped up in more stories than others lately.

Humans.

A relatively new group to join the collective of various species in the galaxy, the humans had made quite the entrance. The galaxy had been aware of humans, but as a Type 1 civilization, it was more of an occasional entertainment than viewing them as equals. Not that they knew, of course. But humanity had improved. After dozens of cycles of testing and watching, a human spacecraft–rudimentary at best, it’s a wonder it even made it that far–stumbled into the Gree’lek’s territory. What Rolitagni wouldn’t have given to see the faces of both sides when they found out. After some tense negotiations, humanity was deemed more than an attraction, and viewed as a fellow spacefaring species–though woefully behind. How they’d managed to do anything without faster-than-light tech was beyond her. The galaxy helped them catch up, and in a matter of cycles, humanity had transitioned from a one-planet species to a fully functioning part of the Commonwealth of Systems. Rumors floated around spaceports and tabloid headlines about humans and their stories, stories of daring bravery, utter foolishness, and of their quirky nature. Sure, every species had its features, but there had been such a long time without a new species that everything had become rather dull. Rolitagni, being her outgoing, curious self, had been excited to meet a human the moment she’d heard about them.

As she sat in the lounge and daydreamed, she felt a buzz from her pocket. Her datapad, signaling that it was time to get back to work. With a sigh, she stood up, stretching a bit before handing the bartender some paeolenta. She strolled out of the building and into the busy streets. A nightmare of colors, sounds, smells, and species roamed about. But she loved it, taking in a deep breath of the artificial atmosphere. It was such a smorgasbord of gasses and chemicals to allow for all visiting species to breathe it, and it left a strange taste in the mouth. She strolled down the walkways, making her way back to her ship, nudging her way past Slaniums, Tre’as, and many more species that she probably couldn’t pronounce. After some distance, she arrived at the loading docks. The hulking cargo ships loomed overhead, being anchored in every which way by cargo tubes and walkways. Following her datapad to find her ship, she looked up to see the brilliant logo of the ship she’d served on for so long: “G.S.V. Laneyla”. Supposedly the captain had named it after his late partner. It didn’t matter too much for her. Whatever the name, it’d been her home for dozens of cycles. 

As she walked up the ramp she saw one of her coworkers, a Jlinin by the name of Mreswi, waving to her and holding a datapad similar to her own. “Hey, Roli! We’re just finishing getting loaded up. Got a few dozen more crates and we’ll be good to go. Think you can take over?”

Roli giggled to herself. Mreswi’s strange tendency to drag out the vowels of his words never failed to make her smile. Well, as much as she could smile with her canine-esque skull-like face. She beamed her message into his mind, though he was used to it. After all, she couldn’t exactly speak. “Sure, I’m coming! Just finished relaxing at Poaters’ place.” She whipped out her datapad and pulled up the manifest for this next trip. Standard stuff, like spices and materials, bound for wealthy buyers or companies to make products. Then there were some odd things, like a pallet of seventeen Bremni skins. A predatory species, and not one with intelligence, they were often hunted for their strong, yet soft skins. And as she scrolled down the list, she raised a metaphorical eyebrow at the last entry. Rather than cargo, it displayed that a new member would be joining them. Roli got excited. It’d been a few cycles since anyone had joined the crew, although everyone was still reeling a bit from the death of their last engineer. She shuddered at the memory. Turns out that having many tentacles in a room with plenty of moving gears was not exactly the best combination. They’d still find pieces of them in the system from time to time.

She gave a nod to Mreswi as she began watching the cargo arrive through the conveyor systems. She couldn’t imagine trying to haul all this up, despite her four-armed strength. As she surveyed and checked off the supplies as it arrived, she felt something. A small sense of nervousness from around her. Sure, to a Kemian like her who could sense life-forces, that was normal. But something about it was different. Each species had their own chemical and neural responses, but she’d never felt one like this before. As the last of the cargo arrived, she felt the presence getting closer. She looked down the ramp towards it, and gasped to herself. She could feel her own giddiness boiling up inside her. She’d dreamed of meeting one, but to have them as a new crew member? It was almost enough to make her squeal.

She watched as a human slowly approached. The stories had always painted humans in different lights and appearances. He slowly approached, looking around anxiously while toting their large baggage. As he approached her, he looked a little more scared, which was understandable to her. After all, pale white skin with tens if not hundreds of stitches, four arms, a pitch black skull mask, and being about a foot taller than the human was not a combination that was exactly easy to expect or understand. 

The human cleared his throat and spoke in a gentle, yet curious voice. “Um, hey. Is this the ‘Laneyla’? I was told to meet someone here.”

Rolitagni beamed with happiness, her attitude completely betraying her appearance. She nodded and looked down at the human, sending her message into his mind. “Yep! Sure is! I guess you’re the new guy, huh? And a human, too!”

The human froze for a second, seemingly shocked by her telepathic nature, along with the lack of a universal translator needed to understand her. After a moment of stammering to himself, he worked up the courage to speak. “Yeah, I am. I’m supposed to be the new engineer here.”

Roli nodded again vigorously while her twin tails swept behind her in eagerness. “Sounds great! Why don’t you go ahead and have a seat over there,” she said, gesturing to a bench by the back wall of the cargo hold, “and I’ll show you around soon? We’re almost ready to shove off.” She beamed as she checked the manifest on the datapad in front of her. “Oh, by the way, what’s your name? I’m Rolitagni, but most folks call me Roli.”

The human paused for a second, then looked up to her and spoke. “I’m Aidan. Nice to meet you, Roli!” His translator crackled slightly. They hadn't been updated to be able to translate this “English” very well yet, but it worked well enough.

“Nice to meet you, too, Aidan!” The name was slightly strange to Roli, but so were plenty of other species' monikers. She’d get used to it in time. After all, they had a long voyage ahead, there'd be plenty of time to get to know the human. She watched as Aidan took his things over to the bench and sat down as she finished up the inventory. She walked over to the bench and looked at him. “Welcome to the ‘Laneyla’! You’ll have a great time here. Ready to get started? I'll show you around the ship for starters.”

[mawofthemagnetar]

I need to talk about my Wels headcanon.

Welsknight is actually from a hyperadvanced spacefaring civilization whose home is a giant artificial ring orbiting an artificial star. Wels considers a faster-than-light spacecraft engine the way we consider a toaster; so boring and domestic it’s barely worth mentioning. Hence why he was able to slap together a spaceship at the end of S8; it was trivial because he learned how to do it in school.

HOWEVER.

Wels’ people are obsessed with “the medieval times of Earth” the same way we are with dinosaurs. And since they don’t have all the information, they do their best with what little they have. So Wels thinks being a knight is all armour and lutes and fun, and has no idea about the Hundred Years’ War, about plagues and the church and any of that nonsense. They LARP as knights because their civilization has advanced past all mundane problems, and their understanding of that period is...vague at best.

And THAT is my Wels headcannon.

[someoneoffthestreet]

MAWS s2 thoughts before the finale:

I’ve been thinking over what we’ve seen of Krypton this season. Mostly how, even though it feels like a lot, we haven’t actually seen much at all.

Notably, most of the information we have received about Krypton is actually sourced from Brainiac, which- well. Brainiac is a certified liar, or at the very least, has a very skewed perspective of Krypton and what it was supposed to be. I do not doubt that Krypton was at one point a warmongering planet that benefited off of others’ suffering (Jor-El’s account backs this up,) but dialogue from Brainiac in 2x08 suggests that, towards the end at least, Krypton was moving away from this and pursuing a more peaceful existence.

(Speculatively, this could have angered some Kryptonians ((it’s been 20-something years and Brainiac still sounds pissed off about it)) and instigated a coup that then led to the attempted invasions against Darkseid/Apokolips and Earth, and we know how that went.)

The images we see of Krypton show the Kryptonians with superpowers on their home planet. But we don’t? Actually know? If that’s completely true?? Because it seems strange that the show would have this, but keep the red sun weakness. Did Krypton not have a red sun in this universe?

Pushing on that, the images of that Krypton are from the Black Mercy, which Kara outright states is Brainiac’s domain. The world Clark is trapped in is based off of the one Kara shows him in 2x05, but we don’t actually know where that vision originated from. It couldn’t have come from Kara, because she was also an infant when Krypton was destroyed and would have no natural memory of it. So whose memory is that? Is it a memory at all? How do we know Brainiac didn’t tamper with it?

(Like in all likelihood it was just a throwaway line, but my brain keeps getting stuck on Clark noticing Ma and Pa’s doppelgängers in Kara’s Krypton, and I keep wondering if maybe that was a result of Clark’s subconscious infecting the simulation because it isn’t an actual, tangible memory, but Kara doesn’t seem to notice anything unusual with the memory so maybe I’m stuck on nothing.)

More on that, is how all of this interacts with what we see of Krypton from Jor-El’s memories. Admittedly he gives us very little, but the contrast is pretty stark. And maybe it’s just because the planet was mere moments from exploding, but the Krypton we see back in 1x02 is a wreck, in very stark contrast to the peaceful paradise that was Krypton’s Last Days as shown in 2x05. Even more notably, neither Lara nor Jor-El do anything superhuman in Jor-El’s account. Think about that. They are rushing to save their infant son’s life, but they aren’t using flight or super speed: they are very much earthbound.

Now to be fair, there’s another explanation. Krypton was already a spacefaring civilization before the fall, so they definitely discovered how their biology reacted to different suns. Maybe they created some kind of device that could simulate the yellow sun on Krypton (like the red solar shielding around Cadmus in s1) that “blessed” all Kryptonians with superpowers; and then this device was damaged/shut off in the time before the planet’s destruction.

Like it could be both: the above point being true and Brainiac still omitting/manipulating things about how Krypton was, maybe to better preserve his idea of what it should have been.

[the-gateway-to-madness]

It sorta bothers me that post-series people are still complaining about 3Below being disconnected from the rest of Tales of Arcadia. For me, it was a refreshing break from the densely-packed fantasy lore and an intriguing peek at the way the universe beyond Arcadia and Earth functions. I liked the character arcs and interpersonal connections. And there was ample room for me to come up with a bunch of my own headcanons, which I love! I absolutely love being able to slot pieces of my own mind and soul into an existing world! I don't like shows where I'm told how every little detail works, that's way too much to remember. Instead I want enough to create an idea of the rules and how things might have gone/might continue to go and fill in whatever else I want.

Also, I think 3Below was SUPPOSED to be a lot more connected before Wizards got cut down. Tons of ideas didn't make it into the limited series run- I remember hearing stuff about Mordred being involved, a lost Krel arc, and I'm sure a lot of lore that would have bound the worlds together more closely. When they mentioned Gaylen's core came from Earth, there was clearly supposed to be more to that, but it got cut out. I'm like 93% sure Gaylen was a being who was part of or similar to the Arcane Order, but was drawn to the cosmos rather than to a part of the Earth. That would indicate that Akiridion tech and magic are compatible because Akiridions' energy-based life was initially magical, but those roots were largely forgotten because of how old a civilization Akiridion is. They've been spacefaring since humans were cavepeople. If the Order existed from the primeval dawn of the world, and Gaylen left not long after that, Akiridion could be millenia ahead of Earth. Or, heck, maybe Earth was the first or only livable world, and Gaylen created the Order to look after it before going off to try to find or create life elsewhere. I always headcanoned that Seklos was more powerful than most Akiridions or even the Royals that came after her, given the fact her core alone was enough to stop Gaylen while in the modern era it requires two royal cores. Maybe she was created by Gaylen to be Akiridion's version of an Arcane Order type being, and she created normal Akiridions, which she then had kids with, diluting her power in the Royals that followed. There's so much ancient history to unpack from just the tidbits we were given.

As for the modern era, there seems to very distinctly be a major intergalactic connection. The drunk ship operator in episode 3 of 3b s1 that the Zerons interrogate talks about ship classifications, which indicates a universal or at least an interplanetary system of ship ratings. We also see interplanetary tourism, and signs that Akiridion is one of the most advanced and influential planets out there.

3Below doesn't need to continue the plot of Trollhunters to be a valid part of Tales of Arcadia. It brought an energy to ToA that was somewhere between Star Trek TNG and Babylon 5, and I love how it expands the weirdness of Arcadia. If it was supposed to be a continuation of Trollhunters, they would have made more Trollhunters. But it's not Trollhunters, it's 3Below. And Wizards isn't Trollhunters either! I honestly think that Camelot, Douxie, and the world of wizards could have been written such that the Trollhunters cast was much less focal, and that if they'd given the show the time it needed and deserved to tell its story, it would have been fleshed-out and fascinating all on its own, with or without the TH gang. Where are the magic users beyond the reach of Camelot? Are there merfolk, sirens, harpies, dryads, more dragons, or other sapient races living on Earth with their own civilizations and magic and cultures? There are so many worlds and so many potential stories out there, on Earth and beyond, in the Tales of Arcadia universe. Arcadia just happens to be the narrative meshing point of them all. And I think that's a really cool way to build a universe.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk, here's more Akiridion development as a treat for making it this far.

[trash-and-trash-accessories]

The Prime Directive is for uncontacted primitive societies. If your peer describes textbook gender dysphoria to you and you say nothing that's more like if another spacefaring civilization describes a problem they're having with their engine cooling system and you experienced the same problem and fixed it by changing the casing design and you just nod and say sounds rough.

What you shouldn't do is tell them that they have to do it your way, and pressure them into changing out their engine casings before they're ready to do it, when it might be a really bad time for them to do it and they have to get their finances and life in order before taking the current casing off or else their entire ship might explode, when they can live with the overheating engines for a little while by just going slow and shutting down once in a while to cool it down while they get ready to make the change.

But you can absolutely say "that sounds like how I experienced gender dysphoria" and that's not bad. You can say, "I had this same experience and testosterone fixed it for me."

You shouldn't say "You should transition. Goddamn just transition bro. When are you going to change your name. I feel weird calling you by your current name it doesn't fit anymore you should pick a new one already. Transition's not hard just do it. Transition already."

They might not be ready. They might be preparing themselves for their entire life to explode around them.

Your experience is not universal. A supportive family and community is not the norm. A lot of people need time and to get their shit together before even exploring changing their gender, even if they know exactly what they need to do. You can tell them how you fixed your own similar issues but you shouldn't pressure them into transition. A lot of people are not in a position where they can "just transition." People have jobs and marriages and unsupportive families and they have to make a plan to get out of all that and build an entire new life before they can even consider transitioning and you have to give them the time and space to do that.

[mindblowingscience]

Evolution has produced a wondrously diverse variety of lifeforms here on Earth. It just so happens that talking primates with opposable thumbs rose to the top and are building a spacefaring civilization. And we're land-dwellers. But what about other planets? If the dominant species on an ocean world builds a technological civilization of some sort, would they be able to escape their ocean home and explore space?

Continue Reading.