NationStates Jolt Archive

The American diplomats' question had caught him off guard and he broke out of step for a slight moment. Overhead the robotic cranes lifted the last piece of outer hull into place and began to atomically bond it to the super structure of the starship.

No mistake about it, this American was good. The tour of the construction area was meant to overwhelm, yet he remained thoughtful and clever. This delicate dance of negotiation, seemingly harmless questions and information probing would continue for hours to come...

"So how did you happen into this?"

How had he? It had been almost six years since he had last thought about such things...

My question is this: If someone close to you approached you and said this:

Well (Your name here), You seem like an intelligent, open minded, tolerant individual who is getting pretty sick of the way things are going right now. I have a proposal for you...

I'm actually a member of a secret organization building three starships. We plan to launch by 2010, we've already developed faster then light propulsion methods, molecular and atomic manufacturing techniques and artificial intelligence.

Oh, just one last thing, you have three choices, pretend I never said anything, join the military, who will explore the galaxy or join the colonists, who will be put into cold sleep untill we can terraform or locate several habitable planets and then develop a government and economic system.

So what would you do, join a group of militaristic explorers pushing the realms of science higher then ever before? Join a group of colonists who have the chance to play founding father and create a utopian society? Report your friend/family/loved one to the authorities as insane or a terrorist threat?

What would you say/do/react/choose?

id go with 'em

I'd stop doing drugs.

So what would you do, join a group of militaristic explorers pushing the realms of science higher then ever before? Join a group of colonists who have the chance to play founding father and create a utopian society? Report your friend/family/loved one to the authorities as insane or a terrorist threat?

*Sings* One of these things is not like the others! One of these things just does not belong!

I don't get it. What if I did pick a given answer? Are the answers designed to shed light into my life philosophy? Was the 'him' that the diplomat questions at the beginning of your post at one time asked the same question you now ask us?

In any case, I don't see why I can't pick both the first and second option (and I see absolutely no reason that option three is relevent). If you have developed science to the point where you can defy well established laws of physics, create computers with comprehension and logical abilities equal to a human, and master nanotechnology, then I see no reason that you can't have also developed life extension techniques that would render cryogenic freezing obsolete. It's certainly a more attainable goal then human-like AI and faster then light travel.

Errr, well it's actually a small matter of food and water.

The ships have limited supplies. It dosen't make sense to to keep 500,000 awake when the ship only has supplies for 50,000 for several years. (Rough figures.)

This is for a science fiction book I'm writing, I like to ground my work in what real people would say/do. Make it believable... if thats possible. Haha. ^^

First, last and only bump.

Me...
I'd try to figure out a way to determine if he was telling the truth, not trying a bizarre method of mugging somebody or scizophrenic.

I would also try to figure out what about me made me a choice.

Assuming I could manage to accomplish that, I'd try to determine whether what I would likely lose in freedom and maybe happiness would be small enough that the chance of finding out their secrets would be worthwhile.

Assuming all of that, all while ensuring my ability to get out safely if I decided "no", came to pass...

Depending on the answer, I would do the following:
1: If it seems that the spacemen are potentially hostile to my nation or the world, or that they will not give up their knowledge on departure and that my nation or the world vitally needs the technology they have, I would try to find out as much as possible, collect evidence, then betray them to my government (or a world organisation if applicable). (For instance, what if, in the course of their developments, they discover a manufacturable chemical that kills viruses? Or some kind of nanotechnology that can stop the growth of cancers? It would be wrong for me not to at least try to bring their knowledge to a place it would do great good.

2: If betraying them would unleash a menace on the world in the form of some sort of terrible weapon etc. they have developed, I would try to join them and negotiate giving up their life-saving or freedom-protecting technologies before departure. Failing this, I would join them as a military/explorer, then after a few years' service try to settle on a fairly developed and pleasant colony. I'd rather choose a colony knowing about what I'll get, rather than risk everything in one gamble for utopia.