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Wars in the future may involve vast interplanetary conflicts or civil wars sprawling over an entire world or more, but what will those wars look like?
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Credits:
Planetary Civil WarScience & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 372a, December 11, 2022
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur
Cover Art: Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygierMusic
Graphics:
Jarred Eagley
Jeremy Jozwik
Ken York
Mafic Studios
Udo Schroeter
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator
source
This is our first episode in Ultra HD 4k Resolution (mostly), I'm not sure it will be the new norm as it takes extra time to do but the episodes up through early January are all already produced and are 4k too, so trial period, let me know if you're enjoying the extra visuals or not 🙂
I would love an episode about tether trains.
Um, did you mean the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle when you mentioned Portland?
not many things are brighter than an atomic bomb blast , i almost fell off my chair 🙂
We had a war over soccer For Heaven's Sake you know football
29:00
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium there is only war.
Why does this guy sound like a Russian foghorn leghorn
25:30 or russia inavading Ukraine. They think they own it dispite the fact that the original population has long diverged inti two distinct groups.
Burn the Heretic. Kill the Mutant. Purge the Unclean!
Why isn't the soundcloud narration only link actually narration only?
"The Moon is a harsh mistress" one of my all time fave sci-fi novels. "Loonies threaten to throw rice" (:
Edit:
I kinda figured you mention the novel. I did NOT expect such harsh (well.. any) critique… R.A.H (IMO) did a good job showing how the loonies could in fact defeat forces sent from Earth. Also, the whole idea of a kinetic energy weapon was used AFTER (iirc) the Earth sent Nukes to the Moon. I have not re-read the novel in a while… So my memory may be wrong (think I need to re-re-read my fave).
One of the most absurd things was that when they TOLD PEOPLE EXACTLY what targets they were going to hit, people gathered to see it at 'ground zero'. Yeah, R.A.H. knew JUST how stoooooopid peeps will be. (there are videos online of peep coughing in others …)
Also, the 2nd mass driver that was built was very cleverly hidden. When Earth declared that the weapon was destroyed, the loonies were able to keep 'throwing rice' (actually it was wheat iirc that was the export, but in the novel R.A.H. made sure to have the headline call it rice… Because Robert knew about racism…)
On the gripping hand… Elon Musk who made SpaceX a thing is also a real male genital. Considering how many people are unhappy with his purchase of twits I imagine that if he ever makes a colony on Mars the 1st thing they will do once they become self supporting is to aim a laser at his head O_o (semi snarkness)
The late Sir Terry Pratchett wrote the following dialog that is just priceless:
“War, Nobby. Huh! What is it good for?" he said.
"Dunno, Sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?"
"Absol—well, okay."
"Defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor?"
"All right, I'll grant you that, but—"
"Saving civilization from a horde of—"
"It doesn't do any good in the long run is what I'm saying, Nobby, if you'd listen for five seconds together," said Fred Colon sharply.
"Yeah, but in the long run, what does, Sarge?”
Totes obs that Sir Pterry had heard this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-2pNCZiNk
Diamond-graphene multilayer windows. Where ELSE would you constantly hear about such far-out technology than from Isaac Arthur?
You brought up the point and now thinking about it. Is the Imperium of Man actually dominated by war? Because all we see is the wars and they're of apocalyptic scales but they also say that there are just as many worlds where there is no war where there is the peaceful life of farmers, or line worker, where they might know in their heads there is a war out there, but they don't have any real tie to it. Now I can't help but wonder, do those worlds outnumber the war worlds?
I feel like with the British imperial example, one thing to keep in mind is the difference between settled colonies and subjugated colonies.
Settler colonies operate on the basis of replacing the existing society, its people, its power structures, and its culture wholesale with a new one. Genocide is their primary tool, and is done by stealing land, brutal massacre, wars of conquest, bad faith agreements, or simply dominating and outcompeting the local population and forcing it to fade into irrelevancy as a consequence of social darwinism and economics. Despite the vaguely Nazi-like idea here, these types of colonies are more likely to be stable and economically and militarily succeed if they become independent because they borrow success and trade relationships from the colonizer. Examples of this type of colony are the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Israel. All have almost completely displaced their indigenous populations and replaced them within their society such that they are effectively not part of the economy.
Subjugated colonies operate on the exploitation of the native land and people of the colony by the colonizer, coopting their own power structures against them and eventually replacing those power structures with more suitable ones. These are not about expansion but about business. However, this form has been as brutal and lethal as the settler form. The Congo free state, British India, and Taino Hispaniola suffered fates as bad as genocide simply because of ruthless extractive business practices by an uncaring and merciless colonizer. This kind of colonization is more lucrative but leaves the colony in a much weaker situation, as it develops a culture of foreign control and is likely to have a long struggle for true autonomy and survival if it does gain independence.
Notably, settler colonies aren't that likely to cooperate with subjugated colonies in the same empire. The mindset of settlers is about conquest. The mindset of subjects is about liberation. They aren't likely to form nice neat alliances because they have diameteically opposing interests. As such, most settler colony revolts have been deeply hostile to the subjugated population, and most subjugated revolts aren't too fond of settlers either.
"as well as to make your economy and society sturdier too"
This. Dispersing and hardening infrastructure and population and giving every garden shed an ABM battery is not totally impossible. In fact, it would probably be the default in a society where property values are determined by the distance from a nuclear target.
I think you'd see the rise of militaries that are nearly entirely comprised of extreme high level special forces types that are also extremely well equipped. The scalpel option would be far more effective than human waves. Then you'd have some sort of militarized police/peacekeeping force more on the level of what we think of as the military today but that would be a civilian force.
"Someone claiming all of Vesta"
Vesta is an integral part of Cascadia and always has been.
"dropping nukes isn't likely to be considered ok"
That is true if you care about being considered ok more than you care about winning. i.e. possibly more true for your colonizer than the colonists or colonized.
"force them to migrate away"
YOU HAVE BEEN BANISHED TO THE ICE REALM. NEVER RETURN
The first rule of warfare is to always have first rule.
I did like in The Expanse, Earth isn't technically united. Afghanistan still Afghanistans.
Love this video (and all of what you do) but actually New Caledonia does have a very strong pro-independence movement that wants to break away from France. The population is very divided on the issue which might be the case on any future offworld colonies.
Isaac I love you so much. The vision you transmit of the space and future is so desolate and eerie, with a tint of sadness. Its vast emptiness is dreadful and strikes fear in us listener, and yet the unrelenting beauty of the utmost inner strength is what shines by far the brightest in all your stories. Keep doing you Champ,
The main difference between a civil war and a war of independence is who wins.
sounds like a star wars and games of thrones
Too easy to destroy life on earth from space. Poison the atmosphere and wait. Scary