Discussion
Topic: Books
A hypothetical scenario. Humans are not from Earth. But in every other way, we are exactly as we currently are, biologically speaking. We have recently developed interstellar travel. We have arrived at Earth with the intent of starting a brand new colony. Earth is exactly as it is now, except without humans and the things humans have created. Where would we land and set up our 1st colony? What location would allow the greatest chance of success?
5 comments
David Rachau Depends on how much stuff we brought with us. Are we roughing it, or did we bring 3D printers that can build entire cities? If the former, it would be pretty similar to where population centers are now, but maybe with a higher concentration of farmland, and therefore farmers, and probably fewer people close to the arctic circle. If the latter, wherever we feel like it. Fiji or Hawaii for me. I think interstellar travel will happen long after we've perfected food production, water purification and climate control.
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Road Master I'd say some type of manufacturing facilities such as 3D printers would be standard. Of course, you can only bring so many raw materials with you. So you'll have to locate and extract more soon after arrival. But what about farmland? Where on Earth would yield the most and greatest variety of crops? Weather and Natural disasters are also a factor.
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Brandon Reed Presumably a temperate coastal area with rich soil. Western Europe or the Northwestern US.
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Road Master So you're thinking somewhere a bit cooler?
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Brandon Reed Somewhere mild, yeah.
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Teresa Prokopanko Winters create a survival challenge, but lack of winters do too in terms of disease transmission and parasites, dangerous animals, etc. So short term, winter is tough, but it's fairly straightforward to cope with whereas malaria and Lyme are much more difficult to avoid and manage. So I'd actually say southern Ontario would be right up there for places to land - mixed forests, lots of lakes for fish, minimal tropical disease risk, winters shorter than further north, mosquitoes annoying but not deadly, good transportation access to the ocean via the great lakes, decent growing season, no earthquakes or hurricanes and few tornadoes, no volcanoes, etc.
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Jessica Montgomery Some places with a lot of renewable resources and a consistent ecosystem like Russias or Canadas would be ideal for new humans, albeit a bit chilly. I think somewhere a bit warmer with similar resources could be the U.S's Georgia/Florida region. It would be great to see how they navigate these challenges.
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Abbie Gilfilen 30-40 degree latitude is most common for civilizations
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Abbie Gilfilen Also look at regions where war was fought over resources and land. People often fight over seaports, places with lots of arable land, islands, access to oil and mined resources. The natural defenses of certain geographical features such as mountains and deserts might look lucrative to certain groups if there is any existing tensions between the settlers.
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Abbie Gilfilen A current example: Russia has very good reasons to want Ukraine, it has such a central location (accessible to the rest of Europe), the Black Sea, and great farm land. That piece of land was very important for the USSR. Any war has political implications as well. Russian nationalism and authoritarianism obviously is a huge part in the war. But the conflict can give us insight into what is valuable about land.
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Abbie Gilfilen The Mongolian empire was also very aware of the importance of arable land and that’s what made them so huge and powerful! So maybe that’s my answer. Moderate temperature areas that are either plains or easily forested for farm lands.
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Abbie Gilfilen Also, how many humans are there?
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