Re: Worst Hugos Ever?

On Mar 13, 3:14=A0pm, Gene Ward Smith <g...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "David E. Siegel" <sie...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:1da1f52c-ef34-4f3f-92ce-
> fb83cbdf4...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
> > On Mar 13, 2:17=A0pm, Gene Ward Smith <g...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> Bill Patterson <WHPatter...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:77609c45-24a9-400b=
-
> 90
> > d4-
> >> 32c70f24f...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >> > It's seems true that the available social and historical theory
> >> > Heinlein had available to him (and he was working with The Next
> >> > Million Years, IIRC) has no other solution on evolutionary
time-scale=
s
> >> > than extermination
>
> >> What the hell does this mean--solution to what?
>
> > I presume he means "solution" to the "problem" of a species competing
> > for the same territory or niche.
>
> Strangely enough, when we consult actual biology we don't find wars of
> extermination.

Well, actually, we do. or at least we do fairly often find one species
completely wiping out another. Most often this happens when a species
enters/invades a new habitat and finds that the prey species do not
have evolved defenses against it. One or more prey species may be
rendered extinct. So may other native predators whose food base is
thereby eliminated. This has happened more often since humans started
introducing species into new habitats, particularly across ocean
barriers. But a sapient species crossing interstellar distances might
seem a reasonable analogue of this.

And early evolutionary theory assumed that many, perhaps most,
extinction events resulted from "wars of extermination" ("nature red
in tooth and claw" and all that). More recent theory sees the causes
as more diverse, as i understand things.

-DES