If I might venture to mediate, here...

I think what Greg is saying is that, at high enough technologies, truly unsurvivable situations become rare. Larry Niven captured a view of this in his short story "Safe at Any Speed". But it should be noted that Niven said that he wrote that story specifically to demonstrate that such technology (and in the story's case, a psychic luck effect) makes interesting stories really hard to write. I'd extend that to making interesting roleplaying hard as well.

What Richard is saying is that the "feel" of Traveller is one in which equipment is far from perfect, and people rather than machines save the day. It certainly requires some handwaving to get that setting; I think we'll all admit that (e.g.) Iain M. Banks has a more plausible view of ultra-high-tech civilization (summary: humans are AI's pets and tools) than Traveller. Traveller is 1970s tech and 1940s storytelling values superimposed over an interstellar setting, with a few new technologies thrown in -- and those without adequate thought given to their implications (see e.g. the planet-killer lifeboat conundrum). Being a game, designed to be fun and interesting for players, we willingly suspend our disbelief for the sake of a good story, while *also* having meta-fun trying to cram observed canon into some kind of coherent framework.

On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 3:52 PM, Greg Chalik <mrg3105@gmail.com> wrote:

Richard, if you want me to unsubscribe from TML, just say that.

If this is not what your every other reply is suggesting, then DON'T SAY ANYTHING THAT ISN'T CONTRIBUITING TO THE DISCUSSION.

Are you receiving this message clearly?

Greg
On 17 February 2016 at 10:42, Richard Aiken <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 3:52 PM, Greg Chalik <mrg3105@gmail.com> wrote:
So much for TL15

<shrug>

If you want to play Star Trek, then go play Star Trek.

Traveller is not Star Trek.

--
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein
"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville (1843)
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester
"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.

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Craig Berry (http://google.com/+CraigBerry)
"Eternity is in love with the productions of time." - William Blake