Anonymous asked:

how's it imperialism if there's nobody on the planet

gayasscommie-deactivated2017090 answered:

IDR the specific arguments about that but an inter-stellar coalition of planets replicating imperialized relations between the home planet and the colonies does seem like it’d b very feasible

[whitemarbleblock]

I don’t see how. Even traveling at the speed of light, a colony forty light years away from Earth will take, you know, forty years to travel to, and it’ll be another forty years before you find out what the immediate response was, let alone the long term results. At more reasonable speeds, all of this will take even longer (you might be able to still send messages at the speed of light, but given that it’ll be eighty years before you hear back, there’s really no way to unilaterally enforce your will).

I don’t see how an interstellar government could hold up under those conditions.

[bambamramfan]

It seems pretty plausible. Like an colonial  government is not metaphysically linked to its sponsors back home, there’s already always a disconnect (which was very noticable in the heyday of the old British Empire.)

Given an initial allotment of force and control over resources, some small elite positions themselves in control of the colony (well, at least the normal sort of hegemonic limited control a government has.) They then justify this rule with an ideology based on the right of Earth’s rule, so they portray themselves as closer to Earth and following their guidance. You can totally keep up this illusion, even with a 40 year lag.

In practice it might resemble a theocracy more than an imperial government. But like, the central administration feeling separate from the colonial administration and going “what are they even doing there in our name???” is not really an unheard of phenomenon.

[mitigatedchaos]

Mostly only makes sense if the rate of technological development is notably lopsided and lifespans are increased dramatically. Otherwise over generational transition new groups of challengers will rise up to challenge the rulers over that 80 year period. But if Earth is the primary source of all high technology (or at least the schematics) then the rulers can maintain their technological edge and thus power and position of “wisdom”.