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On Tue, 10/28/14, Richard Aiken <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Original CT LBB's scoutship vs CT HG scoutship?
 To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com

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 wrote:
 On 10/28/2014 8:53 PM, Phil Pugliese
 (via tml list) wrote:

 For myself, I see them as filling a niche,
 'tramp-steamer' style, where they service worlds
 where the volume of trade (remember, the way I see it, the
 TU has the lower volumes associated w/ CT rather than the
 much higher ones from MT)

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 Problem is, as we've been over a couple of times, that
 sort of trade volume has nothing to do with reality (even in
 the 70s) and everything to do with Marc et al not having any
 idea what the hell they were talking about.

 How do you fix that?

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I don't believe there's really anything to 'fix'.

First of all, the OTU, strictly speaking, really does have nothing to do w/ 'reality' as we experience it in the 21st century AD, or as we did in the 20th. Originally, CT mimicked the 'Age of Sail'.

As far MM 'having no idea', well I think he did.
(Actually, none of us has "any idea what the hell" we're talking about when it's speculating about conditions thousands & thousands of years in the future. Or at least not any better than anyone elses)
I think he had an idea to set up an imaginary universe that was fun to play in.
Not one where 'number-crunching' reigns supreme.

For myself, in my lifetime, I've seen lot's & lot's of 'number-crunching' that never came close to predicting actual outcomes but, in any case,  I don't think that's really the best way to approach this.

I prefer to look at my favorite 'form' of Trav, which is CT, & work backwards.
There are small traders, trade volume is not immense (that's MT, if you like that, then use MT) so there must be other unknown factors at work. Some of which may not be easily, if at all, discernible.

It's fruitless to assert that something can't/won't work or be possible when it's really all 'make-believe' &, in the end, actually a matter of personal preference. As long as 'suspension of disbelief' can be sustained, it will work. But that's something that is inherently relative & greatly subordinate to personal preference. It's why I could never get in 'D&D'. And it's 'psionics' has always been a big 'turnoff' for me. But, in spite of that, I still could really get into CT & I also was wild about the 'Babylon-5' TV series.

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