HOME | DD | Gallery | Favourites | RSS
| bensen-daniel
bensen-daniel
[2989828]
[2006-08-22 23:45:11 +0000 UTC]
"Daniel Bensen"
(Bulgaria)
# Statistics
Favourites: 3883; Deviations: 257; Watchers: 482
Watching: 177; Pageviews: 103427; Comments Made: 6075; Friends: 177
# Social Links
https://www.facebook.com/TheKingdomsofEvil/?ref=pages_you_managehttps://www.instagram.com/danielmbensen/
https://www.patreon.com/danielmbensen
https://twitter.com/Evil0Dan
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKHmyxpQT8XKKZa9YIoaOww
# Comments
Comments: 404
Alright my friend, I had an idea last night that reminded me of one of your KoE musings so I thought I'd share it with you and see what you think. I was watching Star Trek, trying my best to ignore the "planet of hats" trope they beat to death, when it occurred to me that, with a little tweaking, that trope could actually make for an interesting setting. Assume for a moment that humanity joins the galactic community and discovers that nearly all alien civilizations are indeed planets of hats: more or less culturally homogeneous, as it were. The reason for this is that, for the vast majority of intelligent species, cultures fight for dominance until one comes out on top and assimilates all the others on their homeworld. The galaxy is a violent place as they take this tenancy to the stars and humanity, as the only known "culture of tolerance" is indeed unique for their diversity of thought and lifestyle. In other worlds it's a universe full of planets of hats, and the hat humanity wears is tolerance towards different cultures.Β
π: 0 β©: 1
Cool! Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I wanted to give your idea time to cook. There's actually a series similar to what you're talking about: Alan Dean Foster's A Call to Arms. He says humans are diverse (with different languages and everything!) because of our moon, which churned up our planet's core and kept our tectonic plates from forming a super-continent and sticking there.
I've been toying with a similar idea, myself. Imagine a political union like the UN, whose purpose is to stop wars-of-extermination (which turn out to be the most common form of inter-species relationship). The space-UN doesn't want to get bogged down in intra-species politics, so its rule is that it only deals with ONE representative polity per species. So Earth gets represented by China, giving other species the impression that humans=China. Other species have the same problem. They all wear a hat, even if it doesn't fit.
In your scenario, what's different about Earth that we didn't go the way of the rest of the universe?
π: 0 β©: 1
Well I was reading about habitable planets and a lot of scientists these days seem to think that, based on what we know about exoplanets currently, Earth-like planets will likely be "all or nothing" when it comes to water: they'll either have a surface mostly covered in water or be Tatooine-style "desert planets" with little surface water. I'm not sure to the validity of this idea but it got me thinking that without large oceans separating landmasses there's really not much stopping empires from expanding their borders to the point that they dominate the whole planet. Similar to the situation between the humans and the Race in Turtledove's World War series, I suppose. Humans have such tolerance because of our sheer diversity, which is in turn caused by isolation of various groups for long periods of time.
π: 0 β©: 1
Interesting! I would love to see someone put serious thought into a civilization on a planet with no oceans. I'm not actually sure you'd get a monoculture. My bet is you'd get something like the Asian Steppes -- a crazy, churning melee of nomadic peoples. Yes, some cultural practices are unusually stable across time and space (compared to other preliterate peoples who didn't live on the Steppes), but that doesn't mean that any of these people considered themselves to be the same. Plus even a planet with no oceans will have mountains, deserts, and other barriers. I'm also wondering if the lack of navigation and food from oceans would work in the other direction -- stopping big states from forming. I don't know.Β
π: 0 β©: 0
I really like your speculative biology! What's a good place to start with your world?
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you!
Well, until i organize my stuff, this gallery, starting from the old posts to the newer:
sanrou.deviantart.com/gallery/β¦
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks! Do you have a tumblr account?
π: 0 β©: 1
Not yet, but will do soon. I'll post a journal when it happens Β
π: 0 β©: 1
If you don't mind me asking,Β will the Speculative dinosaur project become a documentary someday?Β
π: 0 β©: 1
Haha! That would be nice, but I doubt it. My original plan was to one of my novels published, and then use that leverage to publish Spec, but it turns out getting a novel published is really hard!
π: 0 β©: 1
True to that, but anything can be possible if you keep on trying and not giving up.
π: 0 β©: 1
Well it's a matter of where I put my energies. Right now I'm focusing on writing fiction.Β www.thekingdomsofevil.com/
π: 0 β©: 0
So, you're the creator of the Speculative Dinosaur Project?
π: 0 β©: 1
Editor and one of the founding members anyway
π: 0 β©: 1
Pleasure to meet you. I've been looking into this project recently and I find it VERY fascinating
π: 0 β©: 0
No problem 
π: 0 β©: 1
Same here, fair warning that what I do have has mature content and is pretty dystopian although it varies from setting to setting. It's the draw back of having Telepaths of my own making in my settings.
π: 0 β©: 0
Do you happen to know if the Speculative Dinosaur Project is still around in any form at all? I'll I've been able to find is the old site in Web archive form which naturally is missing lots of images.
π: 0 β©: 1
I don't think so. 
π: 0 β©: 1
Ahh no worries, I actually found a web archive version of the old site, it's not perfect eg missing images and some of the later updates but it's there.
π: 0 β©: 0
My Pleasure! I love your work
π: 0 β©: 0
Okay so it's on its way, happy early birdfay!
π: 0 β©: 1
| Next =>