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

[Christopher Wright]

Walter Bright wrote:
> 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.)

Foxfire, not Firefox. There are about twelve volumes, each roughly as 
long as a Wheel of Time novel.

> 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.

Assuming that the encyclopedia is not lacking in that regard, building 
the prerequisite technologies could take quite some time.

> 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.

Thanks for ruining it for me! (Actually, thanks. I was never going to 
watch it anyway.)