Stephen said -
like the ending of Terminal as drama - as philosophy and biology it's awful - but as drama it's brilliant
Yep. But could we imagine a future biology which has discovered that evolution is not as random as we currently think? I'm not suggesting that is true (or that we could know it was true even if it were) but imagine that the chaotic processes of evolution nevertheless have certain favoured stable states which are much more likely than others ('strange attractors' I think in chaos modelling?). So the links could be heavily predictable as most likely outcomes.
I think this sort of remorseless predictability is a bit of a feature of B7 overall, not just in evolutionary terms. No matter how the individual struggles against political and psychological trends, they will tend to re-assert themselves. The federation will tend to reform, the rebellions will tend to peter out, the various future outcomes will collapse back into certain predictable end states.
Even if it isn't true, I think Servalan believes it is true. She believes the political future is inevitable, so she might as well look out for herself within that overall context. A ruling class that makes use of psychostrategists is likely to have that view I would think.
Alison
--- Alison wrote:
Yep. But could we imagine a future biology which has discovered that evolution is not as random as we currently think? I'm not suggesting that is true (or that we could know it was true even if it were) but imagine that the chaotic processes of evolution nevertheless have certain favoured stable states which are much more likely than others ('strange attractors' I think in chaos modelling?). So the links could be heavily predictable as most likely outcomes.
I don't believe it for a moment but it's a great theory ! If we can live with the idea that by the time B7 takes place they've got around the scientific objections to FTL travel and telepathy why not a variant form of the theory of evolution ? Mind you, if Nation had made this clear in the episode at the time I would have been happier.
Stephen.
P.S. He also did the same thing in Genesis of the Daleks, when Ronson told the Doctor that the Dalek was the inevitable culmination of Kaled evolution - in fairness, one could argue I suppose that the selective pressures on Kaled's might have been easier to determine given the radiation levels from their war with the Thals.
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