Low-Tech Spacefaring Civilizations

[@Shatterverse]

This is probably why 80s computers in Aliens are realistic - they're chunky, idiot-proof, rad-shielded machines that never break that just _look_ primitive.

[@raouljoseph1411]

Hell those ships in aliens are so tough they can enter alien planets with ease.

[@robinsss]

i never saw the movie

[@shoujahatsumetsu]

@@robinsss You need to see Aliens

[@HiroNguy]

FYI when I was in the USAF in the 1980s much of our test equipment used TTL logic, not ICs. Reasoning: TTL is far more resistant to EMP from nuke attacks. That way, after your radiation poisoned corpse is disposed of by the reserve troops who reclaim your base, they can get to work using the same equipment. The test routine programs were also largely on paper & mylar tape, and those are the classified parts. Those can be burned in the fire along with paper classified documents while we were succumbing to rad sickness. The Cold War was hard-core shit, maaaaan!

[@JohnDlugosz]

@@HiroNguy ICs are (were?) made with TTL. In the early 80's that was still normal, as CMOS was low power but slow and the digital outputs could not directly drive a light or motor. It was when the HCT line of chips came out that things started to change.

[@stainlesssteelfox1]

My favourite is 'The Road Not Taken' by Harry Turtledove. In this universe, interstellar travel and anti-gravity is pitifully easy using some unexplained technology that doesn't require electricty or even steam power. As a result, most races discover space travel around the time they learn to work iron. Humans somehow missed this blindingly obvious technology and instead develop as we have. Cue an invasion of Earth by the Roxalan. They know it will be easy as they haven't detected any contra-gravity signatures in system. They find Earth with telescopes, and land in huge iron spaceships (they have to be huge to hold enough air for the voyage), open the gun ports to run out their cannons and march down the ramps with their muzzle loading flintlock muskets at the ready and swords brightly polished and attack... Yeah, it goes exactly as well as you'd imagine. Their contra-grav fliers may be able to manouvre in ways no aircraft can, but they have no way to detect an aspect seeking missile coming up on them from a blind spot. And fixed formations of musketmen vs modern combined arms soldiers with assault rifles is not a winning proposition. Afterwards two Roxolan prisoners are complaining to each other about how humans not inventing spaceships has somehow lead to having all this new and scary technology. One of them says it's lucky they don't know how to build spaceships, or they'd be able to take over the entire galaxy. Then they remember the humans have captured Roxolani spaceships, and ask 'What have we done!?'

[@vincentlenart1697]

That sounds like an incredible read. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@Deridus]

Wait... a Turtledove story that ain't Romans or WW2? Noice.

[@keithshoup]

Try "Guns of the South" by Mr. Turtledove. Interesting read about how a modern sect has a time travel machine and sends AK-47s to the Confederacy.

[@Maty83.]

Found it online in a PDF format. Incredible story which gets the mind thinking like crazy

[@masc6287]

Thanks for the recommendation, it was a great read. eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Turtledove_RoadNotTaken.pdf Wish there was a sequel exploring humans encountering all the alien races and the aliens going "who the heck are these strange and magical beings" and them turning up on the teddybear's (Roxolan's) home world and using gunboat diplomacy. Bet humanity would force them to join some sort of enforced federation in exchange for basic technology.

[@kenanway9999]

So funny seeing a robot typing on a lap top. How inefficient.

[@rayn_0ff]

Totally ridiculous 😁

[@dansmith1661]

Ever seen Ghost in the Shell? Makes Data look like that robot.

[@_Mentat]

Asimov's explanation for humanoid robots was that it is much easier to build one human-like device to use all human equipment than to automate all human equipment. He was so wrong.

[@TheZapan99]

@@dansmith1661 That cyborg hacker with a thousand fingers in GITS was avoiding direct uplink for security reasons.

[@colemanray1952]

I laughed out loud when I saw that! 😁😁

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

Was always fascinated by how most tech in a universe like 40k is analog. Even their spaceships’ guns are manually run by teams of 1,000s, because they’re just that distrustful of automated systems.

[@AverageAlien]

these universes are invented by us. Maybe because we are distrustful of automated systems, we are simply projecting our own doubts

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

@@AverageAlien Perhaps.

[@polasamierwahsh421]

Well there's a couple of events that lead to this In Canon humanity suffered a massive rebellion/war by the men of iron where it had lost most of it's men of steel and men of gold , it's implied that all 3 are forms of ai /robots that humanity used as labour and servants for it's galaxy wide system and it's THE MAIN REASON why when the warp travel was nuked bc eldars had to do their thing & humanity became Isolated it shattered into tiny pieces as no one system had enough remaining robots and ai that were still loyal and undamaged beyond repair & those that did were too far apart to connect And secondly there was an ai rebellion when the techpreists (yes that is their name & job) decided to build a massive ai that can lead battles across entire planets..but they screwed something up ,it ended going skynet in the system it got released in & humanity decided they can't trust ai's nor robots ever again unless they're SEVERELY hampered and monitored by the tech priests

[@shmillbe3390]

@@polasamierwahsh421 still the 40k imperial navy goofy for not getting machine operated shell load

[@quite_a_handle]

@@shmillbe3390 it's just more grimdark to manually load 50 tons shell then use a couple of simple motors

[@tmutant]

I loved the scenario in "King David's Spaceship" by Jerry Pournelle. Using the technology of a planet at roughly the level of development of Napoleanic era Europe (or a little later, with interchangeable parts) they built a spacecraft capable of orbital flight and returning safely.

[@Reynevan100]

If you imagine a race with lifespan of thousands of years, that does not experience boredom, and that perceives time differently - then sub light speed travel might be something completely normal for them.

[@certaindeath7776]

you miss an important point -> evolution. such a species would need much longer to develope to self aware beeings. the longer the people of a species live, the slower it can develope its genpool and its society. f.e. when we look at only the young people in my country, and if only they were society, we would have a totally different leadership, then or nationalist/conservative one, that we have, we only have such a goverment, because we managed to keep most of our dinosaurs from ancient mind sets alive, and they are the majority of the voters. and this is just short term society evolution, i havent even explained genetical evolution, where speed of development would half with every doubling of life span. If you put this long life span on humankind, f.e. average lifespan of 140 years, then we would now still be in a stone age human body, with a brain that is not as connected as our modern human brain. so this brain would likely not beeing able to even imagine such things as advanced technology, we can at best imagine how to split a stone to get it sharp, and how to keep a burning fire alive, but we would not be capable enough to manage to make a fire ourselfs. So the probability to meet such long spanned low tech space faring societies is fairly low.

[@Reynevan100]

@@certaindeath7776 time is irrelevant, you can develop 50% slower but start 10000000x earlier ;D

[@certaindeath7776]

@@Fx_- thank you for your very scientific approach of arguing. great stuff, i had a laugh :D i am impressed how smart you are. pls enlighten me again with your essence of wisdom!

[@charliepotatoes001]

@@certaindeath7776 New minds, fresh ideas, and little patience for the old ways.

[@luisfuentes3846]

In the game Stellaris there was a small story about a species just like this called the Yuut. They had an empire, massive ships, and individually were large but they just expanded into another species of smaller mammals that had cracked FTL and hyperspace. The new species wasn’t particularly more advanced aside from that tech but the Yuut hadn’t even conceived that those two techs were possible. Their ships just tore them apart and took the Yuut empire piece by piece as they slowly tried to mobilize.

[@lordofchaosinc.261]

"Low-Tech Spacefaring Civilizations" I was thinking about cats. They build no homes yet they live in houses and some day someone will bring them into space without them developing any technology.

[@rayn_0ff]

Love your way of thinking 😁

[@earnestbrown6524]

They only keep us around to use can openers.

[@johnwang9914]

Clever cats...

[@ericpode6095]

You fools, don't you know the cats are trying to steal the earths spin & use their cuteness to hypnotize humans! We need Nibbler & Fry to save us!

[@mickey_jim2770]

In 1963 the French launched a couple of cats into space

[@davien001]

I feel like a low tech space faring system is one that arises from necessity, perhaps two sentient species exist in the same system and after recognising each other through radio or telescopy - travel to make first contact with it's neighbour.

[@85set05]

Or maybe some sort of disaster that breaks up the planet into tiny pieces and part of the population is evacuated into multigenerational lifeboats that don't actually lunch but sit their until the planet all broken into pieces and then slowly drift out of the rubble.

[@Triumph263]

If you had two moons orbiting a gas giant where two inhabited worlds are relatively close in their orbits they could probably realize the other moon has life if they could visibly see the effects of seasons on each others worlds; and since panspermia would practically be inevitable between Titan sized moons with atmospheres orbiting the same planet they might have similar biospheres. Hell if they get close enough you might have plants capable of sending seeds/pollen from one world to the other (it would be exponentially rare but once in a thousand years is still enough to spread to another world).

[@crystalmethmonkeygaming626]

@@85set05 planets don’t just split apart if it were hit by a meteor big enough, the impact area would shatter into a million pieces and be left in our orbit, while hell on earth would begin. In fact it’s said our moon came from such an event

[@calvingreene90]

@@crystalmethmonkeygaming626 Tidal forces from a passing small black hole might tear apart a planet gently enough to leave survivors.

[@Triumph263]

@Paul Franklin What I think would be really interesting is the animal life; unless it found some way of getting from one planet to another it would be almost completely unrelated. It they would all have similar bacteria, fungus, and plant life but each world (at first) would have animal life developing independently. So each world would have relatively similar flora, varying in how common it is and which varieties and adaptations; but almost completely unrelated fauna. They probably would have a common ancestor but it might just be some protozoa that didn't even have nerves; since anything to big couldn't make the jump. Even if some animal life did eventually gain the ability to move from one world to another (maybe flying insects since a carapace could protect them from the vacuum and radiation) there would likely still be animal life completely unique to each world.

[@britfox7766]

The "Railgun on Mars" idea provides a perfect explanation for the means by which the Martians are fired to Earth in HG Wells' "The War of the Worlds".

[@Zardoz4441]

This channel is really INCREDIBLE sophisticated. The many stories and fantastic animations really blow my mind - time after time. And it is also boundless visionary and far-reaching. Thank you so much, Isaac Arthur!

[@Durtly]

"Perfected" technology is the best technology but it takes awhile to really appreciate it. Home building is currently dusting off and re-examining old techniques for making homes more efficient. If you want to save electricity, you want efficient climate control, and it turns out houses were invented before air conditioning. Houses had remarkably clever features that helped to manage temperature. If you add those features to an air-conditioned home, the air conditioner has to work less and therefore saves electricity.

[@chippysteve4524]

In Britain and the US;we knew more about housebuilding 300 years ago than we do now. Clearly a society run by sociopathic BS,banking and busynessmen is not an advanced culture. A de-skilled,domesticated workforce will believe anything and is headed nowhere.

[@qwertyact]

@@chippysteve4524 what did they know that we don't? If you know what they knew, why don't you do it?

[@solsystem1342]

My work just put up another building that's basically all glass. I'm sure that'll save on the heating bill...

[@danzjz3923]

@@solsystem1342 you mean cooling? glass is excellent for greenhouses, just ask your car after a summer day

[@TheCuteZombie]

@@qwertyact for starts, they knew to use good wood to make the structure, not cheap repurposed planks from the industry, as well as using better materials than cement and concrete that are not meant to last more than 5 decades. Anyone with half a brain knows that the modern industry mindset is to make disposable products to keep the economy flowing at the cost of quality. And why don't one do it better? Good luck finding good materials in a saturated with higly overpriced crap market, to start with

[@NickPoeschek]

Imagine making our first contact with an alien race and then hearing “We look for things. Things that make us go.”

[@XpaceTrue]

Ah, the Pakleds in Star Trek The Next Generation. They did not invent their own advanced space-faring technology. Rather, they bought it from others. They are ambitious, but they certainly do not leave the impression of being capable of inventing such. They talked and seemed 'slow'. I'm also reminded of the Doog in Star Control 3.

[@LordOberic1]

@@XpaceTrue The Doog were endlessly frustrating. Poor dumb doggo slaves. The K'tang weren't much better off.

[@1988thefreeman]

@@XpaceTrue Daktaklakpak?

[@CamQTR]

You are smart. You can make it go.

[@pederlindstrom3132]

Did their rubberband break?

[@harbl99]

Multi-stage trebuchets launching cast bronze versions of Mercury and Gemini into the heavens so the brave star-sailors in their liripiped breathing hoods can re-caulk the teak hull of the Ecumenical Space Station. How do they communicate with Earth? Really big semaphore flags.

[@ypop417]

Telegraph they brought the wire up with them

[@vgames1543]

Morse code.

[@mose717]

At some point tensions may develop between the planet and the space station because when they flush the toilet... well I'm sure you get the idea.

[@be1tube]

Not sure about the trebuchets because of the accelerations, forces and friction involved. But on a low gravity planet, gunpowder plus an oxidizer with a really long launch rail could get you to a nearby body. Or ecumenical space station.

[@Triumph263]

If you had access to some stronger natural materials (e.g. carbon-fiber trees and spider-silk sheep analogues) I could easily see trebuchets getting near orbit on a low gravity world on an abnormally tall mountaintop in the upper atmosphere.

[@davidstorrs]

Isaac: Let's talk about low-tech spacefaring... Me: Oh, neat! How low are we talking? Could it be done with Victorian-era stuff, get an actual steampunk thing going? Isaac: ...by which I mean the current cutting edge plus twenty years. Me: ...

[@40watt53]

Right???

[@mutantdog]

We're talking about low-tech in space faring not in general I mean we've only sent humans to one other planet plus it would seriously be impossible to make victorian or steampunk tech to be in space best you could make with that tech in space is a rocket no humans at all just a firework into space

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

Computers in 2000 were fast enough for navigation if you live in some of the places mentioned in the video. Nuclear Reactors were built at the end of WWII. So more like minus 20 years

[@FarremShamist]

I mean, if you consider it, if they calculate it well enough, a low-grav world COULD make a train that launches to another world.

[@agxryt]

So you want him to make up nonsense science fiction?

[@science.and.beyond]

If the space race would have continued we probably could have been considered a low-tech space civ

[@kevinw2592]

We could have brute forced our way throughout the solar system with 70's tech. Since then it's been about the lack of sufficient will to try.

[@homeone01]

@@kevinw2592 how so? this is interesting. please elaborate further

[@kevinw2592]

@@homeone01 the space race ended when the Soviets gave up on the moon and Vietnam ate up too much of the US budget. But Apollo could have been continued. The tech was there to get fairly large payloads into orbit. And NASA and their partners would have gotten better at it the more they did. But it would be expensive. Money is just an expression of will. If you want something enough, you find a way to pay for it. Like 11 Nimitz class CV's. Hideously expensive, but it was decided the US needed them, so they were procured. That's just an example. The king of Saudi Arabia wanted a new university so he coughed up $50 billion for an endowment. The Chinese built rail lines all over their country. There's an indoor Ski hill in Dubai. There was no physical reason there couldn't have been more Saturn V's. They just weren't a priority.

[@homeone01]

@@kevinw2592 this was really interesting to read. thank you. a part of me wishes we stayed in the space race now...

[@ethanwmonster9075]

The instinct to travel to new lands has served us very well so far we'd be absolute fools not to listen to it once more.

[@ufotv-viral]

👽👍

[@ivoryas1696]

Ethan W Monster -Fairly well, in the -_-long-_- term, yes.- I wanna head out someday, though.

[@shaynajewell8225]

Well, I mean, let's ask the natives in those lands which were invaded what they think about that first. And maybe, if we listen, we may venture into the stars without doing the same to another species.

[@philippebien5429]

Lol it's all mixed matched in Satan form. Natives/Blacks/Latino's all got screwed over by the alien race "human's". They are out to screw over "Mankind". The sooner we accept that the popular voyages came from using portals from within the ocean to near the mountain tops in the Middle East that brought snow with them... It's a galactic war. Just ask any African American that knows their history about slavery. The whipping was all about exposing those Chakras that are located in the back/spinal area, not the from like Hollywood says... Native Americans where already screw when the first alien settler's landed on their turf. It brought magic and anti God acts for what we know today as more Native American culture. My point is they where always going to get messed over.

[@engreem9281]

@@shaynajewell8225 we should do that. But let's be honest, as a whole we're not going to treat other world's life better. We're going to see and treat those species a million times worse than we have other people. Each planet we come across will probably turn into a global h*locaust

[@AleksandrPodyachev]

We went to the Moon with 1960’s technology, think about that

[@DavidChipman]

You went to the moon by creating new tech that didn't exist in the 1960s.

[@AleksandrPodyachev]

@@DavidChipman they still had to build it with 1960’s technology

[@Johnny-a-i4r]

1960s rocket tech etc and hence Moon landings in the 1960s was only made possible then because of the captured Nazis scientists from World War 2 and their achievements made possible from enforced slave labour and concentrated State funding and its use of captured nations resources.

[@allhumansarejusthuman.5776]

@@Johnny-a-i4r we had alternatives to Nazi rocket tech. And today we are very invested in using that tech.

[@Bubba___]

TheDrewSaga the us didn’t join ww2 because of the nazis

[@Kriscuit_Bonkin]

Makes me think of Battle: LA, aliens who can be easily defeated despite being a space faring civilization. Very interesting scenarios that those type of civilization can come from

[@MrKIMBO345]

Possibly, they don't have more than light engine.

[@TarmanTheChampion]

Great example.. any aliens invading earth movies really :)

[@davidegaruti2582]

@Guy Panzerboss ye sounds fair to me ...

[@alexandernorman5337]

@Guy Panzerboss - A few hundred years of development is actually *a hell of a lot* of technological progress. A modern naval corvette (a small escort) of today could easily smash the finest ships of the line of the 1700s. A modern fast attack submarine would be utterly invincible even when going against an entire navy from that period. Modern airpower could wreck armies from that time period with absolute impunity. And nuclear weapons would appear to the people of that time to be an Act of God. A common trope in sci-fi are the aliens that are super advanced always being millions of billions of years older. The truth is even a civilization 300-500 years older is super advanced compared to yours.

[@madukadilshan2380]

ever heard of technological dark ages and technological bottlenecks?

[@1Maklak]

This actually makes sense. I've heard that NASA has an attitude of "I'd love to have this new tech with lots of features as part of my mission, but not before it gets tested on at least three previous missions." So when reliability is a very high priority, simple, tried and true is better than flashy. Simpler tech is often cheaper, easier to produce and repair, has fewer parts and shorter logistics chains. All are good on a spaceship with limited storage and workshop space and weight. By the time a sublight interstellar ship reaches it's destination, it's probably obsolete anyway, at least as long as technology keeps advancing. AI should be better than Humans at space exploration due to not needing life support, but advanced computers are vulnerable to radiation and also make different types of errors than Humans do.

[@aureliusmcnaughton6133]

I loved the sequel (book) to ET, The Green Planet. It describes ET's home planet where all tech is plant based. Thanks Isaac for yet another great video 😎

[@levigriffin5553]

"Sling-shot me up, Scotty"

[@PerfectAlibi1]

Gunpowder propelled chair... XD

[@ypop417]

@@PerfectAlibi1 Lawn Chair lifted by helium balloons LOL

[@SquirrelASMR]

Lmfao

[@SquirrelASMR]

@@ypop417 hahaha

[@Triumph263]

The trebuchet's giving it all she's got Captain.

[@lololman]

Basically, all the aliens in Hollywood movies who invaded Earth, and failed.

[@SamlovesLulu]

@Big Crunch You're right. Absurdity defined, that. Doesn't matter a whit, though. Nothing else worth watching and a giant bowl of buttered popcorn, and that movie is still a fun watch. Just to see Goldblum swaggering back from the crash of the appropriated alien ship like some Jewish John Wayne along side a young and hale Wil Smith is worth the watch. What a hoot!

[@alexandernorman5337]

Not quite. The aliens are usually depicted as quite advanced but have an inexplicably open Achilles heel that leads to their defeat. And, yeah, probably the most famous are Independence Day (no cyber defense capabilities) and War of the Worlds (no biocontainment).

[@mattstorm360]

Developed space travel but never developed anti virus.

[@Durtly]

Maybe Earth is a Murder Planet, and we just don't know it because we were raised here and don't know any better. Humans are basically socially-opportunistic tool-using predators who kill or subdue anything we don't understand. An alien from some politically unified and weather controlled garden planet would find Earth terrifying.

[@meetoo594]

Battle for terra had an interesting take. A failing generation ships crew (the last remnants of humanity) invades the only inhabited planet in the galaxy to terraform the atmosphere and wipe out all indigenous life in the process before the ships life support fails dooming humanity to extinction. The peaceful aliens then dig up ancient war machines they had sealed away to avert a global war hundreds of years in their past. It doesnt end well for anyone really.

[@DSlyde]

I could watch an entire series on low tech solutions made with high tech knowledge. Appropriate Technologies are a fascinating field and one that really needs more love, not just to help those in less developed nations but also to bring sustainable solutions to everyone.

[@vincentlenart1697]

Lowtechmagazine.com explores this concept. I love that site. Very thought provoking.

[@TheChrisSig]

That sentence about beating gold 5000 years ago sent chills down my spine.... You have such a magnificent way of describing the world.

[@RainenAvernathy]

The PERN series was also one of my first. Both Anne and Todd have wonderful ideas on science fiction and introduced me to feudal worlds and their degradation of technology through crisis.

[@WikiSnapper]

I just imagine aliens landing on a planet, with the intent of meeting the locals; a goblin like race that haven't made contact yet. Then a group of these "locals" hijack their ship and take off into space going on absurd adventures.

[@calvingreene90]

Not unlike the Kzinti empire.

[@DigitalJedi]

There's an adventure comedy somewhere in this.

[@stevetaylor5290]

Read The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

[@NarwahlGaming]

There's a web comic about a smart, nerdy, level headed Klingon (on a planet full of the same kind of Klingons) who invented space travel and built a ship capable of warp speeds - only to get beaten up and have it stolen by his bullying older brothers who go out and make first contacts. 😂

[@chinabluewho]

Pretty much the film Critters except they are intelligent enough to build the ship themselves but are too lazy to do so.

[@sleepingbackbone7581]

I loved Anne McCaffrey's series about "shell-people", persons struck with some deadly or cripling disease or condition and only way to stay alive they're placed inside titanium colum with life support and full sensory neuron-link to their brain. Some strapped to a ship, some to a station, managing it as they would their own body...that world is incredible, as all her stories are, anyway. :)

[@evergreen8509]

Neil Asher has a similar brain/ship connection in 'Prador Moon' quick easy fun simple reading too

[@shaggybaggums]

How the hell have I not read that. Thanks for the info.

[@rocketgranny2261]

I loved that series! It started with "The Ship Who Sang".

[@aidandavis_]

There are alot of books with this trope now. I recommend Ancillary Justice. Also the titanium column sounds a lot like a polio iron lung.

[@jessepollard7132]

Ship Who Sang.

[@ryandoesstuffapparently1540]

The “selected few” maintaining things made me think of another possibility. Human zoos. You could imagine self-replicating robots that were given the instructions “build human habitable O’Neill cylinders, populate them with humans and animals, spread far and continue”. The humans themselves might only have knowledge of basic farming while the caretaker robots maintained the systems and technology, and when new habitats were built, they could abduct and transfer creatures to the new habitats, and go off in different directions. The humans themselves would be low tech and space faring, technically, while they were “farmed” by the higher tech self-replicating robots, which might not even be very intelligent themselves, just following their original programming. Some advanced civilization might use this technique to colonize and populate worlds, only to show up later with their advance technology, claim to be their gods, and rule over them.

[@rayn_0ff]

Sounds a little bit like Stargate. But what's the endgame? Or I guess egomaniacal races/individuals would do it just to stroke their ego...

[@ryandoesstuffapparently1540]

@@rayn_0ff I’m thinking it’s just a way to expand their empire. Send out millions of seed ships in every direction, make them breed and grow the population, but keep their tech level down so they can be easily conquered, then show up at every new massively populated world with fancy ray guns and declare yourselves their king, and get a new influx of human subjects to rule over.

[@eldon9735]

@@ryandoesstuffapparently1540 if they have the resources to do that they might as well just build massive assembly lines of variants of those self replicating droids and use them as the subjects instead. Why go the extra mile just to enslave humans when we're known to be exceptionally needy, unruly, and crafty when living under oppressive regimes

[@ryandoesstuffapparently1540]

@@eldon9735 I’m not saying that’s what they should do, just that it could be a possible example of the type of society Isaac is talking about here. Who knows what their culture would be like. They might value human subjects more than robotic ones for the prestige of saying their civilization has a quadrillion subjects. I’m not saying it is the best or most logical choice, just a possible example.

[@faustin289]

@@eldon9735 There are services human slaves can perform that robots can't...if you know what I mean.

[@stevoplex]

Sometimes "low tech" is more a factor of exquisite economy of design rather than limited complexity of precision engineering. I remember weeping bitterly trying to field strip an M-16 with frozen fingers in swampy terrain. An AK-47? Four moving parts. Toss it in the mud in autumn. Freezes over winter. Pull it out in spring. Drain and swab. Fires perfectly. I've seen it fire full auto non-stop (swapping magazines) for over 1000 rounds until the furniture caught fire. ("Furniture" is the wooden foregrip and butt-stock). So (as an engineer myself, especially doing lots of field work) I certainly appreciate ingenious simple brute force solutions when precision high tech would be fragile, vulnerable overkill. I had almost never implemented a PC (or even a PLC) into a process (thousands of gallons of highly toxic and corrosive chemicals for the metal finishing industry) that I couldn't adequately achieve with a well designed panel of sensors, relays, actuators and motor starters. Data collection by PC was entirely peripheral and had zero effect on system performance. Because shutting down a process could cost a million dollars per day. Deduct that from my paycheck and my great grandchildren would still be paying that off centuries from now.

[@anthonyrepetto3474]

Thank you for addressing the low-tech space-farers; I always drift to wondering that, feeling they aren't given enough credit (being *so many times more likely to have a chance before Fermi's filters take them out...* ) A possibilty I'd spec'd-out for a slowly gestating sci-fi: *a pair of Roche worlds.* By a Jovian coincidence (at most once in the visible cosmos, I wager) two nearly-identical terrestrial planets are tugged into a wide orbit around each other, with a long, early bombardment (which hits the forward-moving side harder; KE=>v2, so their orbits decay, they move-in *close* ) that seeds with an abundance of water, minerals, due to a sundered inner-planet's Jovian debris (that Jove ends up sitting close to the star, but not too close). The twin planets are tugged into football shapes, at the knife's edge *before tidal forces would rip them apart* - rough estimate, for a pair with significantly more mass than Earth is still a

[@astroblue6207]

Low tech space farers are giant bottle rockets that ran out of forward momentum and are stuck in between stars a million light years from anything just traveling dead bodies until some blue giant pulls them in and they turn to fire Gone .they were low tech now they are just missing .we fire other missiles and they too disappear forever .

[@anthonyrepetto3474]

@@astroblue6207 Erm, that's not accurate. Our star, and the others in the Milky Way, drift nearer to each other at haphazard intervals; over the course of just a million years, other stars have passed within only a few Oort Cloud distances of us; thus, not "millions of light years". The Milky Way is only 100K light years across, so your estimate of the distance between neighboring stars is off by a few orders of magnitude...

[@mateosegura1520]

Any updates or links? This sounds really interesting

[@anthonyrepetto3474]

@@mateosegura1520 Oh, thank you for reminding me - yes! I wrote-up a timeline of that world's development, from planetary formation and rough evolution of life, up to the beginnings of the iron age; maps, too! It's all on the site "World Anvil" - a free novelist/adventure planning site. You can *search-bar on World Anvil's site* for the sci-fi setting, called *"The Pirate Planets"* (

[@anthonyrepetto3474]

And, a note about how I was orienting that egg: Imagine each planet is an egg laying sideways in water. One 'cheek' of each egg is above the water; that is the 'Northern' hemisphere; the under-water side is the 'Southern'. These eggs' pointy noses are facing each other, always - tidally locked as they spin around each other, forming a circle on the surface of the water like a racetrack. That's their 'day' - and they're so close, the day is only 418minutes long! At the same time, the eggs are barrel-rolling *slowly* so that the side of the egg that's *above* water will slowly roll back *under* water - that slow shift from 'North Pole' to 'Equator' to 'South Pole' to 'Equator' again is what causes the year, seasons. When the land is moving into the equator, on the *back-side* of the rotation (like the wake of a boat) there is a massive monsoon, right on schedule. Every part of the planet gets its own season of rain, so the surface is lush despite having less ocean than Earth, percentage-wise. Also! The North & South get colder, because the sun is at such a low angle, but they don't stay that way long enough for ice-caps. Instead, the NOSE-CONES of the planets are facing each other, so close to each other, that they rarely get any sunlight; at the same time, those nose-cones are *radiating* heat in all directions, into space - the Nose-Cones of the two worlds are giant ice-caps in the middle of a cold ocean!

[@mazelme]

"The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli."

[@gordonjohnson2497]

Titleist?

[@steel8231]

I've heard from a bunch of different sources that we've technically had the ability to colonize Mars since the 1980s, it's just that we haven't had a big enough motivator. Either a space race or an impending disaster would be needed. Though if Mars actually had intelligent life we might have developed space technologies much sooner. I'd like to think it would be for first contact but knowing the past it probably would have been for conquest/imperialism.

[@bencoad8492]

Mars would only have to be 'habitable' and it would have been on asap, since it isn't it wasn't

[@jmd1743]

We had the technology to have an even more expensive repeat of the Apollo program is what you're saying. Glad we're going to mars now and not the 1980s.

[@Teknokraatti]

Space travel is so expensive and planets are so large that any notion of interplanetary colonialism even against worlds of significantly lower technological prowess is completely off-the-table for a long time to come yet. There is nothing that would be worth the immense cost of the prospective invasion that could be acquired from Mars. Colonialism was driven by economic interests. Colonies existed to make money and non-lucrative colonies were either never started in the first place, or were abandoned to regional rivals soon enough. It would be cheaper and more lucrative for USA to annex India than it would be for the entire economy of the world to afford sending an army colossal enough to feasibly control an entire planet to Mars. I'm sure that you know that USA has been sitting in Iraq and Afghanistan for a couple of decades now, both diminutive countries in comparison to India and technologically completely outmatched, yet the conflicts have been an utter economic and strategic failure. Now, imagine that on an interplanetary scale.

[@steel8231]

@Michael Bishop we do, just not a reason to do it. Between hydroponics and the technologies in nuclear submarines it wouldn't be difficult, just expensive with little or no return on investment.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

@Steel - We probably had the ability to go to Mars, but not necessarily to colonize it - www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/19690804_manned_mars_landing_presentation_to_the_space_task_group_by_dr._wernher_von_braun.pdf This probably would’ve required an Apollo size budget & given Apollo style spin-offs in return. www.marspapers.org/paper/Zubrin_1991.pdf www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsconcepts2012/pdf/4101.pdf

[@pls.protect.free.speechuns5528]

Low tech space travel scenario: Giant Airship travelling through space with little old ladies stitching new airships as old airships start falling to bits and everyone clambers into new airship makes long term space travel possible. It's just a matter of catching passing meteors for new fabric material (so the little old ladies never run out of fabric).

[@arostwocents]

As people have grown over time will we one day have big old ladies or always little in comparison to bigger new generations?

[@pierreo33]

@@arostwocents it's all relative so yeah

[@wouterdevlieger1002]

@@arostwocents historically, humans have been bigger and shorter than we are now, though I doubt it would be visible in two or three generations

[@JohnDlugosz]

@@arostwocents The little ones live longer.

[@jacksonblack9408]

I love this.

[@mayflowerlash11]

A southern accent with a lisp. An intriguing choice for narrator.

[@scottwilliams846]

Lowest tech I'd recommend for space travel is the Apollo mission equipment but with our current computers to save space. Send up a couple space station parts (Skylab or otherwise), throw some struts on it, and then send up a fuel tank and engines.

[@tariqahmad1371]

I’ve been listening to “the empire’s corps” audiobook. They have a group similar to belters called rockrats they would often use super low tech and extremely rugged making their tools and ships Easier to maintain and nuclear powered. Vs the empire where they would use higher tech ships with ftl travel and would be more complex to maintain

[@FreeFallingAir]

Great books!

[@tariqahmad1371]

@@FreeFallingAir I also find the fact that they would call people who live on planets “dirty feet” instead of earters and dusters funny

[@mysickfix]

Ben Bova’s Grand Tour series has Rockrats too

[@arostwocents]

Nazi vs Soviet tech then?

[@tariqahmad1371]

@@arostwocents what do you mean?

[@maxkronader5225]

Hmm, low tech tends not to rebel against you? Tell that to the old Fiat Spider I once owned. That car often rebelled against my desires to use it as a daily driver.😁

[@nickkorkodylas5005]

YOUR BLASPHEMY HAS ANGERED THE MACHINE SPIRIT, HERETIC!

[@ralikdiver]

The phrase “Perfected Technology” and FIAT are mutually exclusive.

[@paullangford8179]

I'm from New Zealand: Fiats had a reputation for "lace trim", where the bodywork rusted so fast you could hear it!

[@nunyabidness674]

Only response I have for this... You owned a Fiat? On purpose? Fix It Again Tony's would have been chosen by Mousolini for staff cars. You saw how his decisions worked out.

[@t.morris5303]

@@nunyabidness674 Futile Italian Attempt at Technology

[@zappawench6048]

The mental image of "Space faring Amish" made me laugh!

[@SquirrelASMR]

😂

[@jwadaow]

The Amish image of space faring laugh made me mental!

[@WilliamDye-willdye]

See my earlier comment to this video.

[@RCAvhstape]

Ja, it is hard to grow turnips in lunar soil, Jacob.

[@calvingreene90]

I imagine they would have been forcefully moved to a space habitat so that their land could be used for a military instillation and then were the survivors of a terrible war because everyone knew they were unarmed and produce an excess of food.

[@SteveBakerIsHere]

The idea of a very advanced robot typing on a keyboard and using it's advanced vision system to read the screen...is hilarious.

[@massimookissed1023]

Well, I guess an advanced robot _could_ do that, but just plugging in like R2D2 does makes more sense. I always wondered why Lt Cdr Data _talked_ to the Enterprise computer, like, doesn't he have WiFi ?

[@mrwensveen]

In "The Road not Taken" by Harry Turtledove FTL travel is described to be a relatively easy tech that most civilizations just stumble upon but we somehow missed. When the Roxolans discover earth they assume we are lower-tech and decide to attack with their otherwise conquestador-level weaponry.

[@slickinfinity.crypto8028]

If their biology is a lot more durable and robust than ours they wouldn't have the need to make advanced life supporting tech like we do.

[@TheRezro]

I think he implied that?

[@TheRezro]

@TheDrewSaga I assume you know that Neanderthals didn't technically extinct...?

[@slickinfinity.crypto8028]

@TheDrewSaga I am thinking more like extremophiles that get sentience and wouldn't need nearly the same requirements for spaceflight as humans. Lets use the Glibgorbs or vega 7 who I just made up lol but they are similar to tardigrades and can be completely fine in the vacuum of space and eat once a year. They could technically colonize a galaxy on the backs or asteroids they just hitch rides on. They just never had a need to develop computers or anything similar to our tech and all they can do is make the most basic of rockets to get off their lower gravity world?

[@ruisen2000]

I think that's a bit less likely though. Humans are so fragile compared to most other organisms on Earth because of our complex biology, and if you're going to have life intelligent enough to develop technology, you'd inevitably end up with complex biology, which would be fragile due to he complexity.

[@slickinfinity.crypto8028]

@@ruisen2000 less likely but not impossible and we might find we are the ones who are least likely. I can see a lot of scenarios where aliens colonize galaxies with no technology at all but all that is just my opinions.

[@J0ermungand]

I'd wager the most low tech viable space ships will come once we're "out there". Much as cars and planes have been a rather high tech industry (and still are), there are individuals building their own for fun and recreational purposes. And once humanity lives in space, we'll probaly have space ships as personal commodities to get around easily.

[@arostwocents]

Jetson style flying cars are the future - "not my whole wallet!?"

[@colewyman9413]

We’ll kill ourselves much sooner then that. or a planetary scale event, a handful of which could happen tomarrow with no warning, will do it before we nuke ourselves to the stone age

[@onidaaitsubasa4177]

Like they say, building a space ship is easy, it's basically a submarine for space, it's getting it to space that's the tricky problem, still it is possible to create a system that uses geothermal pressure to thrust you up there, fairly low tech, even the high energy capacitor in combination with some kind of swirling mercury was basically low technology but it was capable of getting something similar to a diving pod out into space.

[@foggypatchfarm6048]

@@colewyman9413 I agree. We can't agree on policies to balance earth's atmosphere. How will humans balance other planets? I suppose there wouldn't be as many denialist going to live in space stations.

[@charliepotatoes001]

@@colewyman9413 It is more likely we will nuke ourselves to the 1800's since there are plenty of Amish around that still practice and teach how to live a low tech, pre-industrial life style.

[@hatac]

We can't rule out a society being so advanced that it seems privative with a dash of magic. Spelljammer starships controlled by nanotechnology so advanced we can't find the bits. Wood, cloth, stone wrapped in a gossima force fields and decorated with artificial gravity runes. Clarkes law on steroids.

[@rayn_0ff]

Sounds almost arousing

[@RCAvhstape]

Like the art on the covers of Yes albums by Roger Dean.

[@TheRezro]

And that before we even get to virtual reality...

@Paul Franklin If you could travel in time and show present technology to someone in the 60s they'll think it's magic.

[@米空軍パイロット]

For those interested in this concept, Laputa: Castle in the Sky is the movie for you.

[@Tounushi]

I remember this one civilization in Star Wars: Dark Empire that had steam-powered spaceships. I don't know if they had FTL capability, but they were adept at system defence and were armed with lightning guns.

[@MrRickstopher]

I just got done listening to Rendezvous with Rama audiobook and Ringworld for like the fifth time and was wondering what to listen to next. This popped up in my feed and I said out loud, "Well thank you very much Isaac."

[@KharBrons]

18:38 So only allow those who are knowledgeable and skilled with machines to maintain them. Like a group of Adept Mechanics. You might also want to keep them separate from your general population, just in case. Perhaps on Mars, so it's still close, but not too close.

[@djcuevas1057]

Clap clap

[@foty8679]

Good that i already know of the weakness of my flesh

[@JayVal90]

I always upvote the episodes that mention my Amish relatives. ...and most of the other ones too, but especially those. There’s something interesting about the most advanced nation in the world playing host to such a subculture.

[@revenevan11]

It really drives home the point that once you get to the expected huge population of a K2 civilization with a Dyson swarm of habitats, you could have such a huge number and variety of large groups following different ways of life. Like a whole US population/land area's worth of space Amish or something. Subcultures could become *huge* and subculture groups the size of our current ones could outnumber the modern earth's population.

[@calvingreene90]

q. What would a Black Amish community look like in central Africa? a. Normal.

[@ruinenlust_]

> "most advanced nation" > America pick one

[@JayVal90]

@@ruinenlust_ Nah we got both.

[@TheJesterInYellow]

Your speech clarity has gotten much better over the years. I like to watch videos on 2x speed because time is short and I paradoxically like long videos more than short ones, but originally I couldn't do that with you. I realized at some point recently that you now come across clear enough that I can listen to you talk at 2x with no problems

[@xjdkdndnhzndjfndndnnd5506]

Bro was just trying to change accents

[@joshuamiller7502]

And to expand on low-tech being easy to repair and maintain, our modern high-tech technology might take anywhere from 6 months to 10 years to become proficient enough to understand, maintain, and repair. But in the future it might take 25 years to become proficient enough to maintain them, making it impractical for many environments, since mechanics trained to repair your anti-gravity fusion dark matter drive would be almost certainly be ludicrously expensive, and it would be impractical to learn how to repair it yourself.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

A way I love doing it is that when other intelligent life got starships performing interstellar travel, they didn't get computers anywhere near ours, and would be nowhere near capable of achieving the internet. Same technological level, shoved into totally different areas.

[@TGM_Productions]

Makes me think of The Martians from The War Of The Worlds. In the book, the Martians aren’t extremely technologically advanced. Maybe a few hundred years ahead of us. - Their ways of space exploration is by using hydrogen escalator like cannons, to blast massive Pods into Space- but, the Martians’ intelligence and math skill is so strong, they are able to perfectly predict and execute, a perfect journey from Mars To Earth, in the span of a few days. The Martians use hydrogen fuel, for their pods.- Keep in mind, The Martians would have it easier. Mars’ gravity and atmosphere is weaker and thinner than ours. The Martians wouldn’t haft to worry much about gravity and weight for construction and in space- Only when they arrive on Earth. Which is shown in the novel- The Martians, remember- also are planning an invasion on Earth. They fired 10 pods in total- Each every 24 hours after the other for ten days. So, the Martians definitely have had experience in space exploration, or- they were just that good at predictions. But, also keep in mind- earlier in the novel, it’s suggested that the Martians originated when Mars was more like our Earth, but when Mars became inhospitable it is today, the Martians evolved to use bio-mechanical technology in order to survive.- this is why, they even invaded earth. They were running out of resources on Mars, so they decided to invade Earth.

[@kingali1606]

"There might be some societies that voluntarily remain low tech" *GoT THEME INTENSIFIES*

[@ypop417]

Flat eathers

[@colinsmith1495]

@@ypop417 Warhammer 40K, funnily enough

[@AtomicDoorknob]

dragon planet WhErE??

[@hackergaming6372]

What does this have to do with got.

[@toddkes5890]

or GATE? (the anime where Japan has a portal open up in one of their cities and magical critters invade and take a few people as slaves. The Japanese Self-Defense Force makes its disagreement known)

[@basbekjenl]

Imagine the tower of babylon being the first space elevator on earth followed by making a orbital ring. I mean a bit less gravity and some smart babylonians figuring out how to bring air with them all the way up and you could get there with some pretty basic resources and technologies. from an orbital ring if you wanted to escape the planet becomes a small issue surviving in space becomes the main problem to solve hardly an impossible puzzle.

[@drunkensailor5771]

That should be a book

[@basbekjenl]

@@drunkensailor5771 I love your name, it's amazing.

[@AveragePicker]

Such a tower wouldn't be able to support itself. And you wouldn't be able to build it. Even if the tower didn't crush itself, and you overcame every single building limitation, you'd get a Coriolis effect and it would collapse. And the size...you are talking about a 22,000+ mile high structure. 22,000 miles. (Lift was looking at the counterweight being 62,000 miles.) That is 116,160,000 feet. Everest is 29,000 feet high. If you could climb the tower at a nonstop 5mph, it would take you 4,400 hours to reach the top. That's about 183 days of nonstop climbing. And it's being constructed, you'd have to make that ever increasing climb, with building material. You'd need to also carry well over a million liters of air, if you only breathed at a steady pace. ...A bit less gravity? Try none. But then you don't need a tower. That is well beyond just "figuring out how to bring air with you."

[@nuiun0495]

There is no coriolis effect. You'd think snipers or artillery operators would have to compensate for it but they don't, and coriolis is never mentioned during training. Now... as for the Tower of Babel, it WAS extremely high... its descriptipn in Enoch makes me think the Babylonians were building what we would call a space elevator. They believed Heaven and God's throne was directly above the sky, and they wanted to get close enough to assault God and the angels with bows and arrows. The book of Enoch says the Tower was destroyed in three parts. The base was swallowed by the earth during an earthquake. The top was destroyed by fire from Heaven. And the middle part remained on the ground. It says in Enoch the middle part was so big it took three days to walk around its circumference. Keep in mind that's three days walk for giants, not us modern grasshoppers.

[@danzjz3923]

@@nuiun0495 for earth, coriolis effect is miniscule over battlefield distances, a centimeter at most over the longest artillery ranges of 20 ish miles, even where it is most prominent, and with explosive shells, it just isn't that important. it is only seen is massive weather systems like hurricanes. and wasn't babel called that because it wan't really complete? you also CLEARLY didn't read the comment completely. but yeah i agree i doubt that coriolis effect could tear apart a building.

[@jaredkennedy6576]

This whole thing brings to mind the history of the Klingons. Through genetic engineering, they became a hugely advanced race, but then returned to their warrior roots, while keeping some huge tech advantages over other civilizations.

[@KoeSeer]

One of them low tech sci-fi is Battletech. they have FTL, they have giant mechs, they have fusion reactors, they have light years range internet. what they don't have: AI, automated military and drones, or even long range (above 3 km range) weaponry.

[@CreativeWorkflowHack]

My lifespan just does'nt satisfy me...

[@themeanestkitten]

I hope to make it to 75, but that just means i only have 50 years left to live

[@pierreo33]

@@themeanestkitten "only"

[@TS-jm7jm]

@@pierreo33 yes only, 50 years isnt a long time

[@yastreb.]

Wait for indefinite life extension.

[@TS-jm7jm]

@Blashtifin oh, we'll all live again, and most of mankind will be cast into hell and the lake of fire.

[@kingali1606]

It kinda sucks that even though we have the capabilities to launch mankind into space, we don't pursue it since there's no profit or government agenda to pursue.

[@RavemastaJ]

Profit is a barometer. What can you gain if you risk X resources? For example, what if you worked for free? Some people can volunteer for short periods of time, for myriad reasons. But no one would work for free consistently. So the same goes with any resource - time, money, energy. Profits are just one of the IRL resource management game tokens.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

What you’re both describing is one reason SpaceX is developing the Starship. There really is no business case for going anywhere when the minimum cost for a minimalist (12 miners & 50 t of equipment & supplies) asteroid mining mission would be $24B + Development Costs. Reduce that to 1% of that for 48 miners & 360 t of equipment & supplies, & you have a much better chance of success for a lot lower risk & investment.

[@kingali1606]

@@TraditionalAnglican Yeah, but some things are worth more thank just money you know? We're talking about propelling humanity into space, the final frontier. Humanity's destiny is amongst the stars.

[@eldon9735]

@@kingali1606Go to a bank and tell them about how our destiny is among the stars, and that it's worth more than money, see if they'll go for it lol. As much as I agree with your sentiment, the naivety is palpable.

[@kingali1606]

@@eldon9735 It's most definitely not a good short-term investment, and it is quite costly. But as I said before, if you're willing to wait, you can make a huge amount of money. the opportunity is huge

[@dendec7631]

I am reading Stephen Baxter's 'World Engines: Destroyer' right now and it deals with this same subject, the timing is uncanny. The book looks at both ends of the spectrum where really dumb/old technology is used to explore the outer planets, but it also contrasts it with super advanced tech/AI which is interesting.

[@Kitkat-986]

I would love to see a setting with 60s era technology and styling, but where humanity treated space travel as a casual thing thanks to excessive and comically reckless use of nuclear power. Maybe they've gone so far as to build a partial Dyson sphere, and people have personal vehicles resembling 60s era cars which use low thrust chemical engines, or even compressed air, to travel between nearby colony stations, such as O'Neil cylinders.

[@jessepollard7132]

Fuel would have to be renewable and easily available, using compressed air is just a sure way to run the colony out of air.

[@Kitkat-986]

@@jessepollard7132 Nuclear energy isn't hard to come by, especially if you set up lots of breeder reactors. The only reason most of the world doesn't run off of nuclear is due to political pressure and fear of nuclear prefoliation. Also, if you have O'neil cylinder habitats, using a bit of compressed air to propel a car sized metal box isn't exactly your biggest draw of resources.

[@shinygoldenpotion1587]

and even use nuclear power for ftl travel

[@SSFighter1701]

It is so nice to hear someone talk up Anne McCaffrey's PERN books! I devoured these as a high schooler in the late 90s...

[@aa-to6ws]

I imagine those kinds of civilizations as giving a dog a robot servant and send them on a car trip. Technology made by superior intelligence used by... space dogs. What if our first advanced alien encounter is someone´s pet?

[@masc6287]

How about some AI that's turned their creators into pet's who they govern now and have to look after, but just use them as tools for diplomacy when encountering other aliens so they don't freak out when they find out that they are no longer in control of their own species.

[@snarlywhiplash9704]

Rick and morty

[@arachnonixon]

if they are real, I think the classic Roswell-type "greys" are likely some sort of bioengineered clone-drone that the actual aliens send out in a recon/exploration role.

[@dillong7951]

Would a option be a less advance civilization finding advance tech then reverse engineering a very crude copy of the original spacecraft. Crude meaning large and over complicated copy

[@luftwaffe9787]

Nice read Japan Summons It has it's own community in Reddit and has an unofficial Discord Server There is a civilization in the story called the Holy Milishial Empire which creates crude copies of advance tech from an ancient empire, its a very interesting novel/manga

[@theprofessor3339]

@Guy Panzerboss Check out some of the recent news and statements made by the pentagon regarding UAPs. Weird and interesting stuff. Don't know how much I believe about ufos but I've seen something I couldn't explain (as a drone guy if that adds any validity) this year overall has made me rethink a lot of what could be possible

[@panan7777]

Take Dell XPS13 laptop to 1950. More computing power than whole world combined. They might be able to see how small the elements in processor are, but manufacture one? You need thousands of new processes, technologies. How do they make such a pure silicon, much less the rest of the chip? Now consider taking this to Rome. ....It takes advance across the whole industries to make new things. If somebody would come here, they would need a vast museum with them. Put us on the timescale and start teaching. No way to leap 100 years, much less 1000. You could bring the best P&W engine to 1942 and it would just be completely useless. Just to make turbine blades is a mind boggling tech. I'm a mechanical engineer and metallurgist and been pondering this scenarios several times.

[@charliepotatoes001]

Check out an old anime series from the 1980's called ROBOTECH. Basically what you just describe except the Ancient Aliens go through a civil war and need to reclaim their lost technology and come looking for it on earth. Once here they realize Earths humans have become too advanced tinkering with ancient alien tech and therefore have become a threat to them. The Ancient Aliens decide to try and wipe out humans before humans can become an even more advanced society. Humans have a not so bright past history having a tendency to conquer less developed societies they encounter. They attack Earth out of fear for their own survival.

[@SamlovesLulu]

Your speech impediment is a source of personal inspiration to me. Every time I watch one of your eminently enjoyable, educational, and, might I also add, quite easily understood videos, I am reminded that impediments and handicaps are not, by themselves, insurmountable barriers to self-improvement or personal success. Would you not agree that Stephen Hawking stands as a supreme example of the veracity of this statement? On a (happily) far less pronounced (absolutely no pun intended) level, I think you do too. I am 58. I was forced, due to insurmountable health issues, into early retirement. Channels such as yours help me to keep my mind agile and nourished. I am such a fan. Congratulations on the success of this channel. I look forward to many years of enriching entertainment from you moving forward. Cheers.

[@arklanbk]

this was some sappy shit good on ya

[@SamlovesLulu]

@@arklanbk Dude... sap, of various kinds and with varying properties, produces all kinds of cool shi-zit. Besides, a little schmaltz now and then is good for the digestion.

[@lancelotkillz]

I think this isn't the 1at time I saw this comment. CopyPasta?

[@beaches2mountains230]

Hell yeah brother! We all have quarks that make us who we are. We've got to own what makes us different and not shit on everyone who's not a carbon copy of the next. Glad to see there is still some compassion out there. We need it!

[@beaches2mountains230]

I enjoyed his narration. Keep them coming brother! We will keep listening and watching!

[@ToxicSentinelTTV]

You could have life evolve in space: relives the horrors of the Star Weirds from Star Wars

[@ellenmcgowen]

Having different tech levels coexisting on one planet or one system makes sense only if there are significant barriers to tech diffusion. Such barriers are common today and involve geographical concentrations of manufacturing capacity, tech skills and education, and sometimes natural resources. But we can already see trends reducing those barriers, e.g. 3D printing and telecommuting.

[@colonendeplayer4969]

A bit more extreme example would be Turtledove's Road Not Taken. The aftermath of such an experience would be an interesting topic to analyze.

[@Gougar]

0:18 "october 16th" WHAT DO YOU KNOW THAT WE DON'T ISSAC???

[@davidegaruti2582]

Probably the weater

[@revenevan11]

What you've said about the possibility and even ease of low-tech ships exploring (and possibly colonizing) the solar system; and that it's limited by launch costs (once we've got industry "up there" we can just mine asteroids and worry less about launch costs), really has me even more excited about SpaceX and the broader commercial space revolution. I believe the projection is for "Starship" to increase our launch mass/year capabilities *as a civilization* by at least *an order of magnitude or two.* Being able to send up bulk material and reuse the cost effective and quick to build launch vehicles will (if everything goes well and continues developing at this pace) likely lead to that snowballing of our space development, with moon/mars bases and all, within a decade or so. It's a much more practical vision than it was using only the insanely expensive Apollo era tech and mission architectures. And the collective interest and motivation is returning stronger ever day 😁

[@UpsetNerd]

I think you could make that at least three orders of magnitude. Right now, as a very rough figure, we launch about 1000 tonnes per year into orbit. Elon has mentioned that Starship is designed to be able to fly several times per day, so just 10 of them could send a million tonnes into orbit every year. The capacity increase we'll get if Starship development goes according to plan is quite frankly absurd, but in a very good way. :-)

[@Perktube1]

Reminds me of a book, The Ragged Astronauts, by Bob Shaw. Stunning art on that cover.

[@HiroNguy]

"Keep it simple; keep it dumb! Else you'll end up under Skynet's thumb!" Classic Isaac!

[@Wintermist-SWE]

How nice it would be if some writer of a new sci-fi series thought; "Hmmm, maybe I should have a talk with Isaac Arthur". We could get a pretty damn awesome sci-fi show out of it :)

[@bigdopamine9343]

Watch the Expanse on Amazon. It’s about as close as a sci-fi show gets to being scientifically accurate and still being really good.

[@Wintermist-SWE]

@@bigdopamine9343 Oh yeah I've seen that and I love it. We need more of that calibre.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

I'm writing an over-the-top sci-fi fantasy setting, like PG Warhammer 40k, with crazy stupid magic on a ridiculous scale, but still trying to make the "sci" in "sci-fi" as hard as it can get, like having realistic orbital mechanics, realistic scales, realistic technologies, etc. I considered having a talk with some experts, but I'm broke lol.

[@DavidEvans_dle]

I'm only 41 seconds into the video. My mind is running wild, with visions of "Steam Punk Space" travel! That's with giant furnaces, hot water heater propulsion system, and of course. Victorian Steam Punk glasses

[@ufotv-viral]

👽

[@rayceeya8659]

RE: Dragonriders of Pern. It's like Game of Thrones but 30 years older.

[@Falcodrin]

Was that the book with like nanobots, tech created dragons, and stuff that was hidden from the inhabitants?

[@nathanbrown8680]

No, it really isn't. There's way less incest and murder and warfare and the survival of humanity is never at risk for more than a book. If you read in order of publication it's only at risk in the first book because the past is immutable and spoilers: there's a second book so humanity obviously survives the first. Thread is a lot less threatening than a nigh-unkillable necromancers with an immense zombie army.

[@phil562]

The book Footfall by Niven/Pournelle features an alien race that was given high tech by an older civilization that used them as labor but died out. The technology is well described, and the earthlings have their own low tech tricks. Matches this concept perfectly.

[@sainavii]

I'm so glad you have captions now.

[@OfficialAerium]

Glad its Thursday afternoon again. Covid would be even more of a drag if it wasn't for you sir.

[@cosmic_gate476]

Might wanna find an alternate route to your goals instead of using this to fill the dull emptiness of lockdown.

[@OfficialAerium]

@@cosmic_gate476 oh don't worry about that, currently dealing with a rather recalcitrant first born boy :) But it still nice to have something to look forward to on thursdays.

[@OfficialAerium]

@RuleofVicus I wouldn't describe it as harmless but I agree with you that the cure shouldn't be worse then the disease :)

[@cosmic_gate476]

@@OfficialAerium Congratulations! Having a family is something I aspire towards as well.

[@cosmic_gate476]

@@OfficialAerium someone was watching the debate the other night :P

[@littlegravitas9898]

Going to get myself an old fashioned drink and a snack, to watch this brand new SFIA with!

[@lukejavor4739]

Good idea!

[@ypop417]

but do you Realy need the High-Tech Blender lol

[@rayceeya8659]

LOL "Breeder reactors are... not high tech either". I grew up across the river from the worlds first Breeder reactor. Hanford reactor "B". It's mind boggling how crude that thing is.

[@danwebber9494]

Hello, fellow downwinder.

[@rayceeya8659]

@@danwebber9494 Down stream. I was moe concerned with the Columbia River water.

[@nemoskull2262]

we build nukes in 1945. name one other tech from 1945 that can not be built by three fingered tom in his garage.

[@SkashTheKitsune]

humanity kinda needed to see this, especially with us currently at this stage and just needing to get out there and seed... the best way to learn more is to get hands on with the situation

[@DJRonnieG]

"Moon-Moon" from ZZ Gundam had a very low-tech population in a Bernal sphere type colony. They were ultimately contacted by the technologically advanced members of the AEUG and Neo-Zeon but if not, if imagine they would eventually run into issues if the population grew.

[@wolfvale7863]

Wait a minute...This is about us!

[@omma911]

Greetings fellow low-tech user!

[@unitedmechanic9437]

Yes, we're going back to the moon in the next four years and I think it's to stay! As long as our government keeps it up like it has been over the last few years...

[@riyanafrizal4188]

Nuclear fission core is just a can packed with spicy rocks to boil some water

[@nemoskull2262]

was reading a ISOT cali from 2018 back to 1850. in one guy from 1850s is like, 'the nimitz is just a steamer' and for some reason that really got me. sufficent velocity i think had it. the difference between a 1850 side wheeler and a ford class carrier is really just a better way of making and using steam.

[@marlonlacert8133]

Story ark: "Cap this ship must be one of those low tech ships, I have heard about." "How can you tell this hardware look quite good!" "They are still using Microsoft windows 22." "Oh, I see!"

[@extremesheepherder9]

Just the fact that they are using Windows.

[@StarGreg]

I love the video. But im sorry the looney toones accent has me tripping. Liked the video tho

[@seanbigay1042]

This puts me in mind of sci-fi works like Karl Schroeder's "Lockstep" or Charles Sheffield's "Between the Strokes of Night," both of which manage to create star-spanning civilizations without the fancy warp drives, force shields and such normally associated with such Galactic Empires. "Lockstep" does it with advanced hibernation tech, "Strokes"with tech that slows human metabolism and perception to the point that micro-gravity feels like full Earth gravity.

[@fredashay]

_"Uhm, your spaceship is made of _*_wood!!!"_*

[@roblaquiere8220]

If you destroyed my spaceship, there is a good chance to find wood among the wreckage. All that downtime between stops and I would be in my onboard woodshop!

[@fredashay]

@C R Hmm, that sounds rather wibbly-wobbly to me :-p

[@demogorgonzola]

Technically, we do use wood for spaceships... Scott Manley made a nice video about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naXbioNvm7GAo80

[@TheRezro]

@@fredashay To be honest with advanced enough technology you could make basically anything fly in the space. Actual space ship could be a hauler in size of the baseball ball, and it could take in space literally anything with use of the force fields. Like it literally could be a someone rustic house or even hunk of land.

[@fredashay]

@@TheRezro In that case, I'm gonna go for a ride with CR on his giant space worm :-p

[@elijahwills7331]

A situation where space travel is easier... hmm, sounds like Kerbal Space Program. gotta love low density

[@tariqahmad1371]

Just keep strapping on extra boosters and a whole lotta struts and you can go anywhere you want. Assuming you don’t do a triple backflip and blow up.

[@elijahwills7331]

@@tariqahmad1371 MoAr BoOsTeRs

[@ctrlaltdebug]

Was thinking more like High Crusade, Ranks of Bronze, and The Excalibur Alternative levels of low tech lol 😆

[@kleinjahr]

Yep, but don't forget King David's Spaceship.

[@memk]

The Adeptus Mechanicus and STC vibe from the "...and tech development was handled very safely and securely so that ..... it was in some ultra-durable, simple and very tested format."

[@jimpatterson5524]

Thanks for the episode recap at about 21 minutes. Very much appreciated!

[@ke5uq1we8h]

"The Road Not Taken" by Harry Turtledove

[@ufotv-viral]

👽👍

[@theOrionsarms]

A low tech civilization can emerge in a binary stellar system (or multiple star) like Sirius, with a white dwarf moving with hundreds of km/s around main star, this is a great method to launch interstellar ship using only gravity assists, maximum speed would be no more than 1%from speed of light but they can use hibernation or generation ship, or their natural life span can measure century.

[@Etheoma]

surface atmosphereic pressure on Mars is low enough to get into orbit as atmospheric pressure on Mars is less than atmospheric pressure 100km above sea level on Earth, and orbital speed around Mars almost half that of Earths, so you would receive almost 1/4 the shock heating 1/4 the drag. The issue for entering Mars at the moment is scrubbing off the insertion velocity, getting to orbital velocities isn't an issue. Although dust may make it an issue.

[@ufotv-viral]

👽

[@calhoun1968]

I knew there was a reason I liked you...! lol. That is my most favorite series ever. I am also so old, I had to read it in it's original sequence for far too long. My books now have small notes in the margins, etc., telling you exactly where to stop and where to go next in order to read the entire series in exact chronological order..., very important when you get to Nerilka's story and Moreta's Ride. Anyway, another great video, thanks.

[@PandorasFolly]

The description at 18:50 of the process of how to choose the sysadmins for AI sounds like something from the Adeptus Mechancus in Warhanmer 40k. Made me chuckle. Omnissiah Be Praised.

[@cherubin7th]

Giving over all power and control to a small "trusted" group is a very bad idea.

[@Kalleosini]

you mean like a representative democracy? I agree.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

@@Kalleosini By representative democracy you mean communism right? Because a Public servant is only trusted because they were elected which before they were not... Hitler gained power because of an election where before he was not part of a trusted group. Unlike in communism were the people give their everything to a trusted group, the party.

[@Teknokraatti]

@@Kalleosini The number of people who have a measure of power in representative democracies or other similar, non-stratified electorates, is massive in comparison to absolute monarchies, caste systems or aristocracies. Besides, the trisection of powers, being a central feature of modern democracies, ensures that the powers of the collective state are even harder for a singular person or a small group to access at any one time. If you wouldn't mind, please name a type of government that is harder to abuse for a small number of people than a representative democracy and that has proven successful in a stable nation that either exists now or has existed at any point.

[@Kalleosini]

I swear I didn't even mention communism, absolute monarchy or anything of the sort. Look at these two triggered snowflakes projecting their insecurities into my very simple and straight forward message.

[@Teknokraatti]

​@@Kalleosini I'm genuinely curious as to what would you see as the premier organization of state if representative democracy concentrates the power too much in your opinion. Just pointed out that most historical alternatives concentrate it even more. If it brings you a smile, though, call me triggered or snowflake all you like.

[@dochidung1975]

Science and technologies doesn’t lend themselves to easily defined level Civ player:🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@cake.1344]

Next episode: how can humanity achieve the science victory?

[@BSJinx]

"We put a man on the moon before we put wheels on a suitcase."

[@maintaint3003]

"the conquest of nature is to be achieved through number and measure" levels are about the core of science Not easy tho

[@nathanbrown8680]

In the original Civilization you could achieve space flight before pottery.

[@iuliusravas2164]

Finally my dream episode ☺️

[@TonyArjona]

Love your videos. I drifted away and had forgotten somehow. Your voice was a key reminder. PS LOVED the Discovery off Jupiter near the end. Well played, Sir! Well played! :D

[@jeremyboesmans]

Thank you Isaac for thinking out of the box with great insights of possible knows and unknowns of space, very interesting and thoughtful listening to your channel, Thanks again :)