[gurps] Space Transport Costs at TL10

[Knapp]

On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Onno Meyer <Onno.Meyer at gmx.de> wrote:
> Douglas replied to David:
>> I worked for US Customs and can say that there is more to it than just
>> fighting between governments. One really important part of it is
>> stopping the transportation of pests from one area to another. This is
>> very important to a lot of people. Examples of this failing in the USA
>> include, rats, kudzu, dandy lions, starlings, cats, dogs, and a big
>> bunch of bugs like Japanese beetles, fire ants and tent caterpillars
>> and a bunch of diseases too. I would think any ecosystem with pockets
>> of isolation would have this problem.
>
> Once you have multiple planets and their ecosystems to worry
> about, little differences might pale, or the need for strict
> controls to stop alien pests effectively means controls for
> any pests. If your ecosystem is messed up by Terrans and
> their crops, who cares about more contamination? But if you
> took painstaking steps to prevent Terran invaders, would
> you want that ruined by intercontinental invaders? Could go
> either way.
>
> Onno

Hawaii is a great example. It now has all sorts of pests that humans
simply don't like. A good example is that there are a ton of types of
mosquitoes. Pre-white man there were no mosquitoes on the islands. If
I had a world that was nice and free of mosquitoes, ticks and tick
diseases, bedbugs, vampire bats, flees, rats, fire and other ants,
spiders, bad snakes, not to mention a lot of other diseases and
parasites, I for one would want to keep it that way. At tech 10, it
might just be possible. If we are talking ice world then I still would
want to keep the bed bugs out! :-)

-- 
Douglas E Knapp

Why do we live?