Galactic Empires in science fiction

Hi everyone - in this video, I’ll be deconstructing the popular trope of the Galactic Empire in science fiction literature.
#galacticempire #sciencefiction #Foundation
Thumbnail art: Andree Wallin www.artstation.com/andreewallin
Sources
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galacti...
tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_...
interestingengineering.com/co...
www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_...
globalsocialtheory.org/topics...
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DELPHINE DESCENDS
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf - to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.
When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.
She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.
But to beat them, she must play their game. And she must play it better than them all.
BLACK MILK
Prometheus has the chance to bring his wife back from the dead, but doing so will mean the destruction of Earth.
Spanning time, planets and dimensions, Black Milk draws to a climactic point in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity, stranded with no planet to call home, fights to survive against a post-human digital entity that pursues them through the depths of space.
Five lives separated by aeons are inextricably linked by Prometheus’s actions:
Ystil.3 is an AI unit sent back in time from the distant future to investigate Prometheus’s discovery...
The mysterious Lydia has devoted her life to finding a planet that the last remaining humans can call home…
Tom Jones (he’s a HUGE fan!) is an AI trapped inside a digital subspace, lost and desperate to find his way back to his beloved in real-time…
Dr Norma Stanwyck is a neuroscientist from 24th Century Earth whose personal choices ripple throughout time...
Prometheus must learn the necessity of death or the entire universe will be swallowed by his grief.
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[@geneawisea2708]

Star Wars - we travel through light! Star Trek - we travel through warp! Warhammer 40k - we travel through Hell !

[@alanstargalaxy6516]

great ancient empire: we travel faster than light in the physical universe, we are also so advanced scientifically and technologically that the laws of physics do not matter to us

[@alanstargalaxy6516]

we also kill eldrich gods, enslave some evil gods for fun and our ruler is a being with the ability to destroy the entire omniverse, as well as possessing abilities of total immortality, omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence.

[@grahamcrawford4773]

There is a special joy when one beats the KZbin algorithm and finds a hidden gem channel like yours! I'm an old Sci-Fi reader and am impressed with your knowledge of so many books both old and new. It's rare to find a booktuber your age who is well read in the 100+ years of writing I love. It shows in these deep dives on themes. Thank you

[@razzamatas]

Only need to add Heinein somewhere. 1940 -1960’s. I did not see it mentioned.

[@Carnefice]

​@@razzamatasHeinlein? When did he use the galactic empire trope?

[@NeetuSathe]

I didn't know I was looking for this until I found this.. thanks a lot. Love your episodes on sci fi content. Looking forward to more of it.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

🤣 haha thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@flowaroundtherock]

I'm currently reading Empire of Silence. The way the empire controls technology and information is very interesting, and the threat of the Cielcin species makes rebellion less likely as there is another immediate threat. I look forward to learning more as I get deeper into the Sun Eater series.

[@adrianusnicholas8600]

Love galactic empires and thanks for this video. You’re awesome! Also there is a Japanese book series Legend of the Galactic Heroes which is about a war between a galactic empire (which is basically space prussians) and the democratic Free Planets Alliance.

[@autumnaticfly2965]

As an aspiring sci-fi writer who is very slow at reading (and thus sloe at learning and finishing books) your channel is a damn gold mine! Of all the booos you mentioned in this video I've only read Dune, Hyperion and A Memory Called Empire. I plan to read Ancillary Justice, but I have a couple of more classics to catch up to. Namely, the Foundation series. Thanks, dude, keep it up. I'd like to check your book out sometime too!

[@geoffsmith8959]

Subscribed to your channel ages ago but kind of forgot about it - this video is amazing. So well researched and produced. I’m a bit awestruck.

[@InfernoJimmy83]

Consider Phelbas review was superb, and I’d just finished reading it, so perfect timing. You will go far with this channel, thanks for your hard work.

[@Ambient_Scenes]

A great example of decolonial Sci Fi is Cory Doctorow's "Walkaway" (maybe more accurately called decolonial cyberpunk)

[@disc_golfing_with_d]

I think Yoshiki Tanaka’s “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” did this trope in a really good way. It might not be as complex as some, but I thought it was grand.

[@General_reader]

2:13 just bought a copy. Sounds great!

[@tedbrasso6831]

I'll be reading Black Milk and Delphine Descends hopefully before the year ends! To more scifi content and recs Darell!! (will also wait for most anticipated scifi books for 2022) 👏👏

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Haha! Thanks I hope you enjoy them.

[@nickdaboss03]

Just found your channel today and really enjoying the content. Love the mature atmosphere in your videos. looking forward to picking up Delphine ascends!!

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

[@jackodenthal2392]

You deserve more views, your videos are so well done and are very informational

[@champisthebunny6003]

Galactic empires, as popular as they may be in fiction, in reality, would be impossible. Mega-scale empires would suffer from mega-scaling problems in almost every respect. They would be impossible to administer, to police, or apply any kind of common laws, or policies from a central location or 'capitol world'. As 'empire' starts to scale upwards in size and scope, so does the complexity necessary to support the structures that empire depends on for its continued existence. Such empires would quickly become unmanageable, and or bankrupt themselves even trying. The only fictional empire that could actually 'work', or least be plausible in this sense, is the Frank Herberts Dune imperium. There may be other examples I am not aware that posit plausible empire on a galactic scale but I have looked at a many and hardly any of them could ever 'work' the way their writers present them. Pulp fiction empires like the current trope-bearer, the Galactic Empire of Star Wars for example, would be impossibilities. No single entity could force empire through terror, military force, or threat or force and coercion at that scale, or anything like it. The cost of empire would simply be prohibitive no matter how magical the tech happens to be.

[@KevinJohnson-cv2no]

Lol all of this is rubbish which assumes that humanity doesn't exceed FTL speeds of communication. It's like ancient historians arguing that a world government is impossible just because their tech during such an age couldn't manage such a large state. And considering we just made a major breakthrough in FTL speed development just last year which put it in the realm of plausibility, I highly doubt any predictions now will measure up to our capabilities.

[@AhmedOmar-ul6wc]

T E C H N O L O G Y

[@MrEd-xg9wo]

Great Video . I would have thought you would have included Andre Norton's books .. She used the Galactic Empire Trope Extensively

[@JosephFarrelltron]

If only the Federation was real. **sigh**

[@rommdan2716]

If only the Culture was real...

[@jeawe6876]

Great Video Content 👍❤️

[@xMisterVx]

Hey Darrell, like your content a lot. This is one of the few videos that summarises empires - what about revolutions, revolutionaries and agents of major (social) change? Would you consider doing a video on those?

[@f-u-nkyf-u-ntime]

I think Larry Nivens Empire of Ptaavs was interesting. It existed on one premise, the PTaavs ability to utterly subjugate a species by means of Psy power. However the one race that they decided not to apply this force to, the Tnuctip, turned on them and a galactic war ensued that wiped out both races. I love how in Larry Nivens universe, the echoes of that empire and war still reverberate billions of years later.

[@bondjoethree]

"It is better to die for The Emperor and His Imperium of Man than live for yourselves...."

[@MagusMarquillin]

Very fascinating! The only Sci-Fi I've read is some Michael Crichton and HG Welles's the Time Machine - just a few themes of Empire there - but I'm about to venture into Dune and am excited by all the catching up I have ahead of me. For more deep dives into specific galactic empires, check out the channel "Quinn's Ideas", he does well-illustrated lore videos on Dune, Foundation, Hyperion as well as A Song of Ice and Fire (which is about Empire without the Galactic part) and Lovecraft (Galactic Empires of a sort, beyond human understanding or participation - perhaps close to how some colonies feel).

[@zerothis23]

When I read The Left Hand of Darkness, I figured out what was going on before the main character did. The Ecumen sends out missionary-ambassadors not to convert or colonized, but to be converted and colonised. It was cool watching the main character figure out that he was supposed to become a native.

[@paulqueripel3493]

I seem to remember Asimov saying he didn't have aliens because he didn't want John W Campbell's reaction to them. Something along the lines of aliens are okay, so long as humans win/are better.

[@ace_the_race9340]

I CANT BELIEVE HE DIDNT TALK ABOUT WARHAMMER 40K!

[@zemxxi2765]

An excellent example of the Federation that is not completely good or evil but subject to bureaucracy, corruption, and a few bad apples would be the Earth Federation in Gundam. Compared to the Principality of Zeon (which actually had some good people in it), the Federation came off looking kind of good. But then came the Federation's Titans task force in Zeta Gundam. Even then, the Federation didn't turn evil, just the Titans who were led by fascists and that eugenicist Scirocco. Even the Feddies turned against the Titans in the end.

[@TheCorrodedMan]

So that’s where the name for the dark ages in Warhammer came from. Looking at Science fiction history, I’ve come to realize that the writers of 40k took a lot of inspiration from some of the greatest Sci-Fi writers to have ever lived. The Long Night, the God Emperor, the Judges/“Arbites,” I could go on.

[@prasoonjha1816]

Another inspiration from real Roman people in the Foundation Series is in "The General" where Cleon II is inspired from "Justinian the Great" and Bel Riose is inspired from "Flavius Belisarius". I know that in reality both were childhood friends but in the novel their parallels have a huge age difference and have met only once. Bel Riose just like Belisarius is the brilliant loyal general who does the impossible for his dreamer Emperor who dreams to restore the old empire. And then according to legends, Justinian had Belisarius blinded and thrown in begging for he feared Belisarius' ever growing influence and power. Something similar happens in the novel where Cleon had Bel Riose executed for he feared his ever growing influence and power. Belisarius despite his genius is not that popular among the common masses and same is true for Bel Riose too as we see in "Foundation's Edge".

[@andreasxanthros5853]

This is a great video essay, Darrel. Well done! So all these galactic empires rely on faster than light travel otherwise maintaining any cohesiveness across the vast distances of space would be impossible. Also, the post-scarcity empire of the Culture relies on nanotech replicators as well as FTL drives. I think you've read much more Alastair Reynolds than me. How does he handle galactic empires? I know in House of Suns he used wormholes as a means of interstellar travel.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

In Reynolds' Revelation Space universe, I haven't come across a Galactic Empire that unites/rules the worlds in what I've read. They all seem pretty autonomous - at least, not among humanity, anyway. I think his FTL lighthuggers are one of my favourite FTL concepts, which actually travel just below lightspeed, but use a pretty inventive method for attaining an energy source.

[@andreasxanthros5853]

@@Sci-FiOdyssey Thanks for that. I thought of him as he tries to be as realistic as possible when it comes to our current understanding of physics.

[@princeneumator]

literally finished one of the Hainish cycle books and went...someone has to have a video on colonialism in science fiction...and this is a great survey for that! Thanks

[@kc0itf]

What about intergalactic empires?

[@lanokia]

On the "Evil Federations", the Earth Alliance in Babylon 5 and it's oppression of Mars and the colony worlds jumps to mind. For decolonisation and imperialism, Bajor on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

[@jankodes197]

The Culture is almost antithesis to any empire - it can be seen for example in the last game of Azad in Player of Games where the protagonist "plays" as Culture vs the emperor's imperial style.

[@thomasciarlariello3228]

Asimov, Catherine Lucile Moore, Vogt. etc. since why not make FTL only intergalactic?

[@user-vq1pm9lq7o]

What are some most “philosophical” titles?

[@CaptainPilipinas]

the Cabal empire. in a certain era of theirs compared to what they are now in the current Timeline. Lore-wise. for both Causal-bound technologically and psionic capability. or the Amiable ecumene's.

[@davestr7031]

I don’t think the Dyson Sphere at the heart of the Radch Empire has anything to do with the Radch. Anaader Miannaai stumbled upon it centuries ago and merely pretends to be it’s emissary.

[@abhijit6545]

What's your views on "children of time" book

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

I actually did a Children of Time review a while back. You can find it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpnaZqBpod2Zf5o

[@alanstargalaxy6516]

Empire most powerful : 0-company of 8 gods or Transcedental Empire Company: 8 gods 1-Great Empire Acient or Empire Ancient : The Emperor ancient 2-mega empire company : dragon of powers 3-OTP or organization trade planet : dragon ball super 4-Empire of daleks 5-empire of humans: warhammer 40k 6-the empire : star wars 7-the empire : dune Empire most powerful (all power Empire , all power of Emperor and all power of technology): 0-company of 8 gods or Transcedental Empire Company: 8 gods 1-Great Empire Acient or Empire Ancient : The Emperor ancient 2-empire of humans: warhammer 40k 3-mega empire company : dragon of powers 4-Empire of daleks 5-OTP or organization trade planet : dragon ball super 6-the empire : star wars 7-the empire : dune Empire most powerful (all power Empire , all power of Emperor , all power of technology and all power of verse): 0-company of 8 gods or Transcedental Empire Company: 8 gods 1-Great Empire Acient or Empire Ancient : The Emperor ancient 2-mega empire company : dragon of powers 3-empire of humans: warhammer 40k 4-OTP or organization trade planet : dragon ball super 5-Empire of daleks 6-the empire : star wars 7-the empire : dune

[@carlosfandango2419]

Call me blinkered, I don't care. The Culture is the only Galactic Empire that makes sense to me. A pan human/AI mashup that just works. When all is said and done this is Star Trek with attitude, forget the prime directive. This works in the real world!!

[@orionstark]

Read Neal Asher's Polity series.

[@xalpacazeu1332]

I am looking for a galactic empire book where tyranny and evil prevails for the most part.

[@alanstargalaxy6516]

Warhammer 40k

[@piotrd.4850]

12:10 - UFP is nowhere NEAR being galactic empire. In fact, there's not one (not even borg) in star-trek contemporary reality.

[@staticfanatic6361]

Those light flares are really irratating, they interfear with viewing the artwork and distract from what your saying, which was what?

[@frankferderer8567]

🙋🏼‍♂️🤖🙋🏼‍♂️’The Robots vs The Computers War Of The Planets’ Frank Ferderer KZbin

[@Superstorm50]

Fun fact: Star Wars is based off of Dune. Think about it…

[@kid5Media]

The Culture is most definitely NOT an empire. In Consider Phlebas the Culture is reluctantly at war with an empire, which thought it would be a walkover.

[@dirus3142]

Recognizes Star Trek as the most well known IP that uses a Federation for governing. Also uses an image from the most divisive and unloved rendition of Star Trek.

[@florinpoe]

Stop using the word trope every 2 sentences. It's annoying. I'm sure you know many other words to replace it.

[@SuperNova-py1ec]

Wow.