[OT] [I mean totally OT] Re: What can you "new"

[Walter Bright]

BCS wrote:
> the story I want to puzzle out is that a group of a few thousand people 
> get dropped on a planet with an indestructible encyclopedic reference, 
> really good geological maps and their birthday suits. I've wondered how 
> long it would take to get into back into space. If they can keep society 
> together, I'd bet it would be under 100 years, it might even be under a 
> generation.

Most of them would promptly die. The reference will be missing all kinds 
of woodcraft that is necessary to survive, but nobody found worthwhile 
to record. (The Firefox series of books is an attempt to record those 
old techniques before they were lost forever.)

Most of the instructions in the encyclopedia will be useless, because 
they'll require non-existent precursor technology. How to build those 
precursors probably will not be recorded.

Then the people will have to have a very fast attitude adjustment, and 
many will die in that process. Take a look at the sad history of Jamestown.

The Battlestar Galactica finale where they just sent all their tech into 
the sun and went native is a romantic delusion.