Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Earths With More Than One Indigenous Intelligent Species

On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 14:18:05 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

Five SF Earths With More Than One Indigenous Intelligent Species
>
Imagining a world in which Homo sapiens are no longer (or never were)
the only intelligent tool users on the block...
>
https://reactormag.com/five-sf-earths-with-more-than-one-indigenous-intelligent-species/

I find your optimism (about the Strange Ones in Day of Judgment)
unwarranted.

If two humans have _returned_ to Earth, then, clearly, they came there
from somewhere else, somewhere which contains a large enough
population of humans to be genetically viable.

So if there are no more than two humans on Earth - and even if they
were both male or both female (of course, two females plus a large
cryogenic sperm bank could be worse than one male and one female, but
let's not waste too much time on this) - that's no ground for
complacency, as they could just be an advance scouting party, with a
larger expeditionary force in Earth's future should retaking Earth be
found desirable after making their report.

And, of course, killing them so they can't report back is likely the
best way to ensure a second visit by a larger and more careful party,
so that simple and obvious solution is out. But convincing them that
Earth is still so badly contaminated as not to be suitable for
resettlement might be a promising approach.

John Savard