Satisfying End!

[alkalinecube]

I really liked the full recap with Earl. It was nice to get some questions answered too, though I was confused by the swapping of clone/android. I would like to know just a tiny bit more, like what the outcome of the final choice is, and whether anything was really learned from the disaster. Thank you for a great game!

[Lord Admiral Revol]

I don't know what you mean by "whether anything was really learned from the disaster". What would be an answer to that question?

We know that

The electrolites came from a virus on an asteroid. The asteroid was mined for resources, and the ore was not decontaimated properly. Xenobiologists immediately sounded the alarm that this could happen, but they were dismissed and suppressed for economical reasons. It's a bit banal, I know, but that makes it realistic. I can see this happening with the coming Apophis asteroid.

Apart from the obvious moral of the story, not much to learn.

[alkalinecube]

Originally posted by Lord Admiral Revol:

I don't know what you mean by "whether anything was really learned from the disaster". What would be an answer to that question?

We know that

The electrolites came from a virus on an asteroid. The asteroid was mined for resources, and the ore was not decontaimated properly. Xenobiologists immediately sounded the alarm that this could happen, but they were dismissed and suppressed for economical reasons. It's a bit banal, I know, but that makes it realistic. I can see this happening with the coming Apophis asteroid.

Apart from the obvious moral of the story, not much to learn.

What I meant was more on the "learn from history so you don't repeat it" side. Do you think they're going to think back on this disaster the next time a valuable economic opportunity comes with catastrophic danger that's almost certain to wipe out the next planet? Or will they be more cautious in the future? Would the decision you make at the end to send or not send a copy of your consciousness affect that outcome?

I was just trying to be vague because I didn't know how to use the spoiler formatting. Thank you for showing me!

[Lord Admiral Revol]

Originally posted by alkalinecube:

Originally posted by Lord Admiral Revol:

I don't know what you mean by "whether anything was really learned from the disaster". What would be an answer to that question?

We know that

The electrolites came from a virus on an asteroid. The asteroid was mined for resources, and the ore was not decontaimated properly. Xenobiologists immediately sounded the alarm that this could happen, but they were dismissed and suppressed for economical reasons. It's a bit banal, I know, but that makes it realistic. I can see this happening with the coming Apophis asteroid.

Apart from the obvious moral of the story, not much to learn.

What I meant was more on the "learn from history so you don't repeat it" side. Do you think they're going to think back on this disaster the next time a valuable economic opportunity comes with catastrophic danger that's almost certain to wipe out the next planet? Or will they be more cautious in the future? Would the decision you make at the end to send or not send a copy of your consciousness affect that outcome?

I was just trying to be vague because I didn't know how to use the spoiler formatting. Thank you for showing me!

By that metric, nobody ever learned from any history, be it real or fictional, so no, nothing was learned, because it's not really possible to learn in that sense. The event will be considered a black swan, something they could not have predicted, so while precautions will be made, you cannot get ready for something you don't think will happen. We're woefully unprepared for a world wide chupacabra invasion. Why? Same reason we were not prepared for these worms. We dismiss the people who warn about it as crackpots.

Honestly, both parties were in the wrong. The scientist should not have tried to make panic, because that will backfire. The asteroid miners should have had fairly advanced decontaimation procedures. I can excuse the scientist being alarmist, because, well, they're a bunch of extreme high IQ people, rarely are they good at communicating with normal people. The asteroid miners, no excuse there, even right now we KNOW that life can form on asteroids, because we found amino acids on asteroids, of all people they should know the best that goin' around licking space-rocks like some interstellar cow-cosplayer can have apocalyptic consequences.

[alkalinecube]

Originally posted by Lord Admiral Revol:

By that metric, nobody ever learned from any history, be it real or fictional, so no, nothing was learned, because it's not really possible to learn in that sense. The event will be considered a black swan, something they could not have predicted, so while precautions will be made, you cannot get ready for something you don't think will happen. We're woefully unprepared for a world wide chupacabra invasion. Why? Same reason we were not prepared for these worms. We dismiss the people who warn about it as crackpots.

Honestly, both parties were in the wrong. The scientist should not have tried to make panic, because that will backfire. The asteroid miners should have had fairly advanced decontaimation procedures. I can excuse the scientist being alarmist, because, well, they're a bunch of extreme high IQ people, rarely are they good at communicating with normal people. The asteroid miners, no excuse there, even right now we KNOW that life can form on asteroids, because we found amino acids on asteroids, of all people they should know the best that goin' around licking space-rocks like some interstellar cow-cosplayer can have apocalyptic consequences.

Don't forget Lucious, who was supposed to be a genius in his own right, but couldn't put his greed and ego aside to actually consider the scientists' warning. And since he's escaped the planet alive, he should at least learned something from all this.

But yes, people have learned from history in real life. That's why there are so many regulations around the world on all sorts of matters, because people were irresponsible and greedy and others faced the consequences. Just because there are also a whole lot of idiots breaking or trying to undo those regulations doesn't mean no one has ever learned from history.