I've come to the conclusion that the problem with the pattern of decline
described in _Hard Times_ is that it assumes that, before the Rebellion,
all worlds are, for all practical purposes, possessed of high
stellar technology.
Take, for example, the chapter opening in which the seasoned traveller
describes his amazement in encountering an electric arc-welder. While
the use of one would be surprising on a world formerly capable of
x-ray laser welders would be surprising, it seems unlikely that someone
who has travelled widely in Imperial space would never have seen one
before, given the large number of industrial and pre-stellar worlds.
According to _Hard Times_, as worlds are cut off from interstellar
trade, they become unable to sustain their prior levels of technology,
and must regress to lower, locally sustainable levels of technology.
Now, I had always assumed that the reason for the incredibly wide range
of levels of technology was that most worlds preferred to remain at
levels of technology which were locally sustainable.
_Hard Times_ seems intended to cut down on the number of high-tech
worlds, and to increase the number of low-tech worlds. But, I had rather
felt that there was already a superabundance of low-tech worlds.
I hope I am not annoying anyone by initiating another round of _Hard_
_Times_ bashing, but most prior discussion has focused on the idea that
technology could be quickly reacquired, rather than on the question
of why technology would be lost in the first place.
Brian G. Vaughan O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and
[email removed] count myself a king of infinite space--were
it not that I have bad dreams.
(Hamlet, II.ii.254-6)