Life As A Planetary Governor

[@FattyMcFox]

Planetary governor: Because of the miracles of life extension, i have been serving as Govenor for 523 years. How do i make it stop? I have done everything to get people to stop voting for me, i put on 200 punds, i showed up to meetings in my undergarments, i haven't campained for 90 years, WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP VOTING FOR ME?" Ice-cream truck vendor he is talking to: "Have you tried unpopular and draconian policies?" PG: " No. That would be unethical, and downright evil." Ice-cream truck: " That is why you have my vote."

[@ajdinhalilcevic6270]

Or you know, resign?

[@Celestial_Reach]

​@ajdinhalilcevic6270 I know this seems odd, but some people would consider this unethical. Leadership is a selfless act, and while often fueled by ego (which is unethical) a leader who is doing it not for them selves but because they are the best and the people want to keep that person there as it's best for society. In such a case, resignation would be kinda unethical to such a person, as they know that the optimal solution is not "everyone must make sacrifices" but "I need to sacrifice so others will not need to"

[@max-zv7sf]

​@@Celestial_Reach The exact thing happened in 2021 for the election of Italy's President of the Republic. The ex president Mattarella had already vacated the presidential residence and had bought a nice villa in the country to retire when he was basically re-elected again by the parliament.

[@FattyMcFox]

@@Celestial_Reach Congratulations, you have read the subtext of the joke. * ( This response was overly sarcastic and unneeded. I shouldn't have made it, but won't delete it because i won't pretend i didn't show my whole behind in a moment of Petulance )

[@LeafBoye]

​@@FattyMcFoxBro don't be a dick

[@albioncia]

Planetary governor 101 : make sure to pay your tax to the imperium on time and give your tithe in terms of arms, money, and guardsman

[@KalashVodka175]

Mr House would have hated being a Planetary Governor

[@modellbaufuranfanger1468]

Most real thing in warhammer pay tax or you have a Problem…

[@iivin4233]

That isn't the worst deal, although it is an intergalactic protection racket. At least the Imperium makes few cultural demands other than don't become xenos.

[@renstimpy9313]

The Emperor protects

[@chupacabra304]

Astartes tax collectors would not be very fun 🙃 Or even a contemptuous Inquisitor 😒

[@2013Arcturus]

I like that Issac is low-key building "Dark Age of Technology" lore with these stories.

[@PowerfulGalaxyNewsRadio]

I don’t understand could you elaborate?

[@geeljire9247]

​@@PowerfulGalaxyNewsRadio It's a Warhammer 40k reference

[@ponyote]

All Hail the Mechanicus Loremaster.

[@TheLexeon]

Maaan, I for one cannot wait for the day Isaac says "heck it" and inevitably publishes a novel. Such a good story teller and world builder.

[@chupacabra304]

Isaac please 🙏🏽 You would be a terrific author

[@marcelgrabowski5939]

That would be glorious.

[@beardyben7848]

Start with magazine type short stories! Then you can publish a collection. :) Good novels are difficult, so give Isaac Arthur a break, lol. :)

[@marcelgrabowski5939]

@@beardyben7848 It seems that he mastered those already.

[@lgjm5562]

As long as he listens to his wife for a realty check on interpersonal dynamics and dialogue . ie don't go full George Lucas.

[@kommandokodiak6025]

My platform as System Governor: Pirates will be spaced, grevious pirates will have a slow spacing. Lower interplanetary fees and taxes Standardize fuel pricing along the major space routes including Space Route 66 A Gwathok{a common 'roid cave bat} in every pot

[@Cmdtheartist]

"...and that's why we need a robot in charge. Colonists, may I present to you, Ultron Jr. He's not like his dad, he's actually more of a stickler. Anyway, when you hear this message, my escape pod should be reallllly far away, so.....yeah."

[@69Kazeshini]

Lol I thought you were gonna reference KETTLE from the space sanctuary episode.

[@Chris.Tee.11b]

The naming convention is brilliant

[@cannz9134]

In the year 252525, the backwards time machine still has not arrived....

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Having no succesion plan not just means you have a bad plan, just in case something happens, but also incentivises attempts for power grabs.

[@Kriscuit_Bonkin]

Currently making a sci fi interstellar comic book (more local Star systems than spanning most of the galaxy) and I want to learn how to add realism to the empires and make the stories more realistic. These videos help me so much with ideas

[@shangothunder1055]

Don’t forget to link it in the future

[@Kriscuit_Bonkin]

@@shangothunder1055 will do biscuit!!

[@barryon8706]

If I'm on a world with a bunch of robots and my cat, I'll probably appoint myself planetary governor. Not that I could let the power go to my head, seeing as I'd still have the cat.

[@highlorddarkstar]

The cat is the System President, obviously.

[@PowerfulGalaxyNewsRadio]

@@highlorddarkstarMr whiskers, president of Europa 😂

[@smoore6461]

When you said, "things getting much worse." I thought with the Roman feel to the names, and the mention of SCT's, i laughed because i had been thinking, it sounded like the Govonor needed Astartes of his own and maybe an Officio Assassinorum to ensure orded on the mission. Great Story, as always, sir! I really do enjoy the format of these episodes! I love all of them, but the stories are always fun and interesting.

[@smoore6461]

Another great story and fantastic episode isaac! I can totally see that sort of trouble cropping up. People are people, of course. I was really excited about this video, and i was in no way disappointed. Very interesting.

[@cannonfodder4376]

Had a wide smile on my face while listening to the story. Made work yesterday very enjoyable. 😊 You write wonderfully grand yet grounded fiction scenarios that I would love to see others embrace and adapt into stories themselves. A most fun and informative episode as always Isaac. Another great episode of the SFIA Cinematic Universe.

[@mjk9388]

Awesome job Issac and team! I really enjoyed the story at the beginning and the artwork and music were superb as well.

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

Kinda related-ish, I had a weird dream the other night. Been having a lot of weird dreams since I started working out again. In the dream I was on some earth colony world, one of millions and one of many forgotten by whatever future empire the earth was. The world had been colonized and terraformed and experienced a decent run for a while but had fallen in societal decay, not a violent one or some kind of ecological event but a quiet slow burn breakdown. There were abandoned towns and cities all over the continent I was backpacking around and I was accompanied by an uplifted gorilla dude who wore some kind of mechanic jumpsuit. We found some abandoned futuristic but also kinda rustic country home on the side of a road near a forest we were looting. The dream felt a lot like some VR games i've been playing lately which might have inspired my brain for the dream.

[@estherclawson6876]

I thought of Caves of Qud reading this, but I'm sure there's other options. Cool dream though.

[@JariDawnchild]

Any chance I can talk you into writing a novel about this? I'd read this. ❤

[@GotMyTowel42]

@@JariDawnchildsame

[@ebonaparte3853]

Interesting dream!

[@JariDawnchild]

@@GotMyTowel42 The best story teases can be found in comments like this lol.

[@rogerrinkavage]

I just finished reading "Farmer in the sky" and this episode is perfect timing!

[@DeathLands]

I was getting worried. Wanted to listen to your episode before work and was worried you weren't uploading today

[@francoiseeduard303]

Governor? I’m the Generalissimo of my system. The System is divided into States (though they function much closer to Oblasts of the Russian Empire). Governors are appointed by the Generalissimo. States are also under Regions by culture or sub-ethnicity. These Regions are free to enact their respective Regional laws without hindrance from the Imperium, regarding immigration & entry/exit, and to protect its distinctive ethnic/cultural characteristics, with the purpose being that the core mass of each respective culture/sub-ethnicity will basically remain unaltered. We have FTL travel (that can go at least 98.8 lightyears per hour) and ftl communication (basically a system of “satellites” & “transceivers” suspended in “hyperspace” or “slipstream”). As for life extension: with all our genetic enhancements age 55 is biologically 25. That’s just “barehanded” without say later mutation repair, telomere regrowth, & cellular revitalization.

[@djdrack4681]

...and yet the moment there is FTL travel itd be super easy for a group of rebels to use hyper-luminal weapons against their tyrannical gov. Relativistic 'rods from god' are Bad Enough, but take something going 20c and the sheer destructive power (and ability for a planet to mount 'meaningful defense' that is subluminal in speed) = easy to wipe out planets.

[@coreytaylor5386]

sounds almost identical already to how states in the US and India work, though India's states are much more ethnically and religiously diverse, borders around cultural/ religious/ ethnic groups with freedom to govern themselves so long as it doesn't mess with the federal gov's interests and in the US at least even allowed to collect their own taxes and raise their own military under the command of the governor (that state's national guard), and even freedom to change the borders if the populations want it. so there is a lot of precedent for that style of government working really well so long as you dont let tensions between ethnically or religiously different states grow to much but even then thats usually easily avoidable if you dont kick the can down the road for decades.

[@francoiseeduard303]

@coreytaylor5386 I guess an argument can be made for that comparison, but it is actually official. As for not letting tensions grow we have outlets: Our genetically enhanced super-soldier special forces has whole divisions that are ethnically/culturally specific. The British Empire had everyone from the Seaforth Highlanders to The King’s German Legion to the 303rd "Tadeusz Kościuszko Warsaw" Fighter Squadron to the 🇺🇸Eagle Squadrons🇺🇸 to of course the Fighting Irish. Our national pastime is riflery. MMA & bare knuckle boxing are both tied for 2nd national pastime. This is on purpose to have as many people as possible knowledgeable in self-defense & fighting in case Earth (or something else!) darkens our doorstep. But, sports can also serve other purposes, including being an outlet. We have a goal of colonizing 31 (non-white dwarf non-red giant) star systems. Each of these 31 systems will be reserved for a specific “cultural realm” to colonize and grow in. This will be a nice release valve. If we perfect Stargate technology we will send an ark ship to the Pegasus Dwarf Irregular Galaxy, even with our FTL it could take almost 3.5 years(!) to get there, and their mission upon arrival will include setting up 4 massive Stargates in each quadrant while we in the prime system set up 4 corresponding Stargates. A whole Dwarf Galaxy is an excellent release valve and somewhere far far away to escape to if need be. As for religion: 80% of the population is Christian of 1 sort or another. The remaining 20% is Vedicist (exported from Northern India ~1000 BC. Don’t ask how we did it), Zoroastrian (exported from the Sasanian Empire), various regional pre-Christian faiths (exported from their respective eras), gnostic, and atheist. If someone wants to establish a religiously exclusive space habitat or asteroid or a religiously exclusive colonization effort to a star system (fully under the Imperium’s administration of course) I don’t see why not.

[@vincentcleaver1925]

Time to work on that slightly Pendragon inspired generational colony building cooperative RPG...

[@erichtomanek4739]

Your short story, extended, would make a great TV/streaming series. Perhaps 5 seasons of 20 episodes each. Would you also release it on DVD, at the end of the 5 year run, for those of us who like physical media?

[@Eldagusto]

Ahhh another life as series so refreshing for the spirit. Interesting tale and good discussion afterwards

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@marcelgrabowski5939]

Ahh, I love episodes with a good narration. You could easily write a book from this scenario alone, and a really good one at that.

[@djj949]

Love the storytelling, great vid

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Much appreciated!

[@trevorhunt9547]

Isaac, would you be willing to release a compilation of your fiction? I'd love to listen to that!

[@yourbuddyunit]

Same. +bump

[@JariDawnchild]

Here's another bump. These vignettes are so fun.

[@calebkirschbaum8158]

As far as governers or important officials, I know the president, but have no idea who the governor is of my town or state. I'm impressed you are familiar with that many high ranking people, even just keeping up to date on who they are.

[@Akapaco2]

That's actually his day job. He oversees the elections in his county in Ohio.

[@rebeccawinter472]

Homeschooling kids, election official, and you still have time for this? Stay safe this fall. Don’t let anyone pressure you or push you around Isaac - on either side (or these sneaky Greens). Our politics probably differ - but thank you for all you do.

[@niveketihw1897]

This is a fascinating and fairly realistic portrayal of how intelligent, serious people acting in good faith can nevertheless come into conflict with each other. Unfortunately I predict our culture will continue its postmodern slide in the decades and centuries ahead, to the point where everything is synthetic, nothing is serious, nothing is in good faith, and conflict is either completely fabricated or completely unreasonable.

[@ponyote]

When you tell a story this way, it makes me feel that much more hopeful.

[@animistchannel]

You hit an important point in a future with life-extension. There may be many more people qualified to do a job than there are jobs for those people to do. How to alleviate the pressure of basic human social ambition? Ultimately, it seems that alternate social structures may be the answer, centered around special interests or hobbies. In a post-scarcity society, civic administration (i.e. mayors and presidents) may be no more socially prestigious than being the "King" of the Medieval Re-enactors, or the Master of Chess Tourneys, or the leader of an RPG raiding guild. This may be a way to channel social ambition into social harmony. Let's hope!

[@robertgraybeard3750]

at 4:08 or so, you talk about using easy to access resources like icy moons (and imply using comets and asteroids) to build large space habitats rotating for artificial gravity where people will live while terraforming suitable planets. Indeed . . . I expect Dyson Swarms will be very important in The Future, more important than planets.

[@thekaxmax]

Isaac makes that point on the regular.

[@leenshelly]

great this style of video keep them coming

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks, will do!

[@knallpistolen]

Happy Arthur's Day.

[@nathanwish6857]

Sir, at what point do you look into writing a screenplay? I’m certain that you could rival the scientific detail of something like The Martian & as long as many from the multitude of “first rule of warfare” stipulations are included, it would ultimately be worth watching. Thanks again for the content you produce. So entertaining and informative.

[@scifirealism5943]

I will write science fiction centering on one of my three favorite technologies: artificial gravity, antimatter, and post-scarcity. The fictional elements will be cosmic strings, Q balls, and matter replicators.

[@randyping6036]

Mel Brooks: It's good to be the planetary governor. 😊

[@binacharya]

Hey Issac, I just watched a YT video by Real Science called "The incredibleway this Jellyfishgoes back in time". I thought you might find it fascinating and can imagine cool space stuff with it

[@lonjohnson5161]

One of the graphics in this video had someone in a spacesuit typing on a keyboard. I thought the gloves were a bit bulky for the keyboard that was being used and it got me thinking: How do you make a good interface between an astronaut and the equipment they must use? I don't know if there is enough in that question to make a good episode or if it should be folded into another, wider, episode. Either way, I would like to see such an episode considered for eventual publication.

[@dariustiapula]

Not me. I'll probably cause a planetary rebellion.

[@GrigoriZhukov]

I can not imagine what vile crime that i did to be forced to serve as a planatary govenor...

[@drewjackson3858]

This could have been solved if everyone except the bare bones crew was frozen, robots ran everything, and the captain or whatever had kept the ice asteroid need to know.

[@Nturner822]

Your stories are my absolute favourite

[@JonBrownSherman]

Augustus made a big mistake not keeping Agrippa closer to him. They could have been powerful allies and kept the mob rule in check... Maxwell could have at least had more bread and circuses for the people. After all, New Actium wasn't built in a day!

[@vincentcleaver1925]

The flag ship is 'Navi Longinus'?! And they didn't see that tempting fate... 8-P

[@maxpayne2574]

This sounds like a absolute formula for a dictatorship. No person could resist that much power over time.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It is definitely a concern, though I was trying to paint our governor as a mostly well-intentioned and capable leader rather than an outright villain either :)

[@TrollCapAmerica]

Washington was able to walk away from from being declared King. It can happen not to mention dictatorships arent run by the dictator they are run by enough bad people with guns who are willing to follow him and good people to cowardly to say no

[@noir-jaune6957]

Next up: Life as a Stellar Governor.

[@morwickchesterham3875]

Would be nice to be styled as a Planetary Governor.... His Planetary Gloriousness the Governor...

[@peterpienczuk2664]

great intro felt like i was listening to a Baldemort story

[@Furyhound]

Do you think somewhat long term placements (like say a space navy) would have life extension as requirements?

[@Guðmundur4369]

This is going to be interesting ❤🎉😊 Getting snacks and a drink.

[@bocckoka]

I think the main obstacle to the growth of humanity is it's governance structures. I didn't like Dune, because I thought if we couldn't outgrow a federal mindset, we would just die out. For the same reason, a singular 'governor' is unreasonable to me.

[@thekaxmax]

Check out the structures of cooperative companies.

[@cholten99]

Like a much less pessimistic Adrian Tchaikovsky. Excellent story telling Isaac. Like many I'd love to read a full novel version.

[@AEB1066]

What I want to know is did the space olympics have a blue painted guy with his junk hanging out as part of the opening ceremony???

[@FreejackVesa]

Checking my spice mélange quota...

[@Flesh_Wizard]

I'm brainrotten. I read the thumbnail as "planetary gooner" 💀

[@sanacraft455]

I would follow Captain Antony to the end of the universe

[@-41337]

This episode is one of my favorites

[@kejaris949]

This story would be awesome as a backdrop for a video game or a space opera!

[@SkyFly19853]

So, is this Planetary Governer loyal to the Emperor in Warhammer 40 ?... 🤔😏

[@MogofWar]

He's apparently imprisoned on New Ganymede.

[@SkyFly19853]

@@MogofWar but for now... before he is executed by inquisition...

[@sarcasmo57]

Some day.

[@asahearts1]

Really enjoying the names in this one.

[@dominic.h.3363]

I find the concept of generational ships fundamentally troublesome. You cherry pick a handful of people with perfect psychological profiles from thousands to be astronauts, but then a newer generation is born and all bets are off on how well they cope with their status quo (and you can't genetically screen for things that are shaped by life experience, you can't just engineer a psychological profile into a zygote). So yea, freezing the vetted passengers, and extending the life of the vetted maintenance crew seems to be the way to go.

[@sulljoh1]

By the same reasoning it's problematic for many people on earth to have kids, no?

[@dominic.h.3363]

@@sulljoh1 What has that got to do with anything? There's only one Earth and everyone lives on it. The main premise of colonization is to isolate a smaller group of people from this environment, and the sense of isolation and responsibility this mission instills in the individual as a psychological burden.

[@Steven-dt5nu]

Great story man!

[@A-Wreck]

Now heres a fun question. How would you expect a space scavenger to live? I can already split one into few forms. Normal - guy goes around collecting scrap and repurposing it and making money. Corporate - we all know hardspace shipbreaker and certain lethal company so i can skip the explenation. Illegal Scavenger - Bassicly a pirate but instead lookin for the booty loot hes lookin for the best parts in the verse. Even if it means strippin them from bulks he just raided and strapping them with whatever makes em stick to his own ship.

[@reporeport]

I want to live on a space city with Isaac arthur as the governor.

[@efebrahim]

In this medium, you are singular. Thrilling stuff, in spades.

[@iivin4233]

It's politics like what you describe in this video that make me wonder if human beings are even capable of large scale projects like colonizing other planets or saving our own. We need a level of consensus that our psychologies don't seem to permit. With different technology, fewer consenting people may be needed to accomplish these goals. A machine or a mechanistic process (are they truly different?) can "commit" to as long a timeframe as its design permits. Do our emergent processes have the same capability? At the very least, if there is a system or type of person or being or society that can commit to these projects that emerges here on Earth or that exists already out among the stars, then it will be favored to succeed us. "Us". Whatever we are. That is an encouraging thought. And maybe "we" can become a part of "them" rather than "Us".

[@MRSBroadcastingAB]

Don't wait for "others" to do it. Then it will never happen. You have to do it..."if human beings are even capable of large scale projects like colonizing other planets or saving our own".

[@TheEyez187]

Sleeping for the trip could be horrifying... when you wake up; alongside the offspring of the multi-generational ship. Imagine going to sleep with say a 1940's mindset, to be woken up and greeted by todays younger generations! But potentially far more so, however that translates! I think I've just invented a new genre of space-horror! No wait, that's just Pandorum!! >XD

[@zico739]

Good stuff as usual.

[@Eonwe]

This is amazing content

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks!

[@rezaganjizadeh4263]

•trade fleet •defense fleet •manifacturing sector •agricultural sector

[@midnightroadstudios]

Sounds like my ideal job.

[@djdrack4681]

I'm still curious how gov/corps think they'll be able to 'maintain' authority/power/control over colonies: the moment the colonies are able to be self-sufficient (and threat of "we won't bring supplies if you don't bend the knee" no longer has weight), there'd be no real reason the colony would answer to some authority, even if corp's home planet is in same system (IE Mars vs Earth). So I have a hard time envisioning a authoritarian governor who stays in power for 5000yrs: 'eliminating' somebody is already quite easy considering how fragile we are; and even IF they were bio-augmented w/ tech, there'll be everything from AI drones, to 'mining accidents', to bioweapons+EMP; your weapon of choice is almost endless. In last 6000yrs or so, 'eliminating' is often the 'preferred' standard for dealing with authoritarian government; I expect it'll continue into the age of space colonization. Fighting over mining claims, asteroid claims etc could be incredibly 'problematic' for the thief/aggressor: the colony can easily have 1:1 ratio of 'kill-bots' (AI drone fighters) for each mining drone they have. that'd be super easy: IF they feel there is risk of ppl trying to take over their claim/colony, they'd prob make it a 50:1 or more...some with things like nukes, high-power lasers, bio-weapons, and various specialized fighters. Even if a 100km wide asteroid colony may be worth $100tril today, the size needed to attack the colony (and risk of losing that attacking army) could easily approach the $trillions;

[@MRSBroadcastingAB]

Without any other humans the "worth $100tril" hasn't any value.

[@djdrack4681]

@@MRSBroadcastingAB Not true... Even if such a colony (or group of them) were largely isolated and self-sufficient: until an era when we colonize 10s of 1000s of star systems...resources will always have value. You could have 1bil tons of iron, but no uranium or phosphor (reactors and fertilizers or genetic engineering respectively). So you have to import it from a moon/planet nearby: the moment you may have to trade both parties assets are going to be valuated as that is crux of a barter system (which most economies are based upon). It could be 1 human on 1 planet, and 1 human on another: each controlling a giant drone-automated assemble of mechanized extraction/MFGing etc...If they have to trade, despite being the only 2 humans in the star system: their assets will have value

[@MRSBroadcastingAB]

@@djdrack4681The two last humans in Universe will surely have other issues then being megalomaniacs.

[@noir-jaune6957]

How about "Job as a 30-star field general"?

[@GotMyTowel42]

idea: Golden Retriever Aliens How did they become so? How do they deal with threats? What would our interactions look like?

[@Libertaro-i2u]

What would we need any rulers for? I mean rulers as in governors, monarchs,etc, not measurement devices.

[@Trolligi]

2:31 gustavo fring or Morgan freeman

[@aserta]

Would be simpler to space all the living crews and just wake up the sleeping needed to replace them.

[@aserta]

19:44

[@egillskallagrimson5879]

Another topic the whole setting of colonisation fleets arises is the fact that colony fleets are military power houses on their own and though certainly a K2 solar system would regard them as pitiful, as we have seen in this episode it seems quite easy that a colony fleet or elements of it can go rogue. Beyond the proverbial theme of Space Pirates!(Yaaarrr) there's the more interesting rebel fleet topic or simply the shenanigans related to how groups manage these fleets without going in a power trip aboard a ship with Terawatts of destructive power. Todays governments take great care that military hardware do not fall into the hands of private citizens or groups not that much for fear of what they could do but for the political leverage it can give to said people. We do not see fleets of military grade ships in the hands of private owners shaping international politics. It will be interesting to explore said topics in a video about why is it allowed to private initiatives in space to gather such tremendous power and it's political consequences.

[@seditt5146]

Are they all going to be Narrative Episodes from now on?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

No, just wrote som8 coming if the long project of the interstellar colonization Compendium

[@DerekJones1081962]

You wrote an inspiring short story. As I have looked at personality types and who could be best govern themselves. I can't see a democracy of any form working until populations approaching millions occurs.

[@thekaxmax]

Check out cooperative companies.

[@HypeKillahPwnd]

I like this narrative told as a story

[@scifirealism5943]

Which is a cooler thing to work with in science fiction antimatter or artificial gravity?

[@benjaminconnor6640]

I have ideas of Ming the merciless abusing Cryostasis sleep to ape Immortality. Running his world via a strong religion centered around the fusion rocket idling in orbit acting as an artificial sun.

[@Traeske]

03:18 The legendary Emelie Poole: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJy8hKxvo8yBrpo More Francis Bailey (and Emelie Poole) kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2bHdH6Mf7xrr6s&t

[@cannz9134]

In the year 2525, if man is sill alive.....

[@carlousmagus5387]

I'd take the job. Governor General has a nice ring to it. Or Emperor-King. Or Lord High Protector.

[@hisownfool1]

Dumb question: How long did the journey to New Actium take? Early on in the story, we're told that Max's colleagues wonder why he's going into an exile to somewhere "over a century away." Then later, we're told that the journey is expected to last "several decades." I'm not clear on how long the journey took. I'm curious.

[@GadZookz]

Only the Chosen One can govern the stars but who chooses the committee which decides that? 🤔

[@GreatGreenGoo]

Still waiting for that book you need to write...

[@definitlynotbenlente7671]

I assume a lot of thankless administrative work

[@davidbrennan660]

The IA Algorithm is the governor.

[@AlucardNoir]

If FTL is not on the table - and even if it is, depending on how slow it is - I can image a world where hereditary nobility comes back into vogue. If it takes 10 years - with FTL - to reach the capital and another 10 to come back, any system representative is going to lose contact with the people that elected him. And even today, the few long lasting democracies we do have have political dynasties. What happens when being senator is an appointment for life and you have said political dynasties? you have a de facto aristocracy. And I would see at least some systems actually changing the name. No to mention what happens when you have an autocratic system put in place during the voyage because of a mutiny and you end up with a general in charge, one who only trusts his own blood and a core cadre of officers who themselves only trust each other and their children? You end up with the Norman Conquest on planetary scale. While feudalism in the Roman empire was a result of tax policy, feudalism in the rest of Europe was a result of conquest.

[@jasongarcia2140]

Dont you feel we have antigrav by then

[@itsfonk]

Gov. Isaac A. Bezos looking dapper

[@firefly6147]

What about being temporary viceroy🤔

[@lgjm5562]

So Sid Meyer's Alpha Centaur game.

[@netizencapet]

We won't be interstellar until 4000 AD

[@GariFFUSA]

How do I skip the intros ??

[@GariFFUSA]

Sorry Isaac

[@justandrewthomas]

Feels like a great Stellaris campaign... ❤