Re: XKCD: Paging Doc Smith

On Wed, 29 May 2024 06:22:03 -0000 (UTC), "Default User"
<defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

In the Revelation Space series of SF stories by Alastair Reynolds, the
Inhibitors are a race of machines that work to prevent emergent species
from expanding though space. The reason is that if will make it easier
to get the galaxy through the upcoming collision with Andromeda, in
some 3 billion years.

That seems quite bizarre. The collision with Andromeda will result in
at least a few planets becoming uninhabitable, and therefore instead
of expanding into space causing problems, clearly it is imperative for
survival.

So getting the galaxy through the collision with Andromeda without the
loss of any of its intelligent races _requires_ that they all expand
into space!

Of course, though, perhaps they have the even more benign goal of
getting the galaxy through the collision without loss of life. In that
case, no one expanding into space means fewer planets to protect.

John Savard