Re: Colony Critical Mass

On Thu, 20 Nov 1997, Alan E & Carmel J Brain wrote:

> > One problem with the Aborigine example as a minimum size is that the
> > aborigines of any locale have already adapted to their environment
and are
> > working in harmony with it. 
> 
> :Begin Rant:
> They adapted to it the way the Maori did in New Zealand: by
> exterminating every animal larger than man-sized! The coming of
Humanity
> to Australia led to mass extinctions of many macro-fauna.

<rant>
Wow, someone who knows something about environmental history.  I can't
believe how many people actually believe that ancient peoples lived "in
harmony" with nature.  It has been shown by archeology that almost all
primitive peoples across the world plundered nature whenever possible,
and
that it's only in the 20th Century that large numbers of people actually
have an awareness of environmental problems.
</rant>

On topic:

This kind of leads me to a question here.  If a planet is actually
M-class
and well-inhabitable by humans, wouldn't it be reasonable that life
(especially intelligent life) already exist?  How colonists interact
with
the locals might provide a much more interesting scenario...