Semi-OT: A General Tech Question Thread for me :)

[dogscoff]

The infantry vs orbital bombardment debate reminds me of a very interesting article written by Iain M Banks about his Culture novels.

Here an extract:

The thought processes of a tribe, a clan, a country or a nation-state are essentially two-dimensional, and the nature of their power depends on the same flatness. Territory is all-important; resources, living-space, lines of communication; all are determined by the nature of the plane (that the plane is in fact a sphere is irrelevant here); that surface, and the fact the species concerned are bound to it during their evolution, determines the mind-set of a ground-living species. The mind-set of an aquatic or avian species is, of course, rather different.

Essentially, the contention is that our currently dominant power systems cannot long survive in space;

And here's the URL: http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm