Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- alternate_history:max_s_first_law [2011/10/22 06:29] – Petike
+++ alternate_history:max_s_first_law [2019/03/29 15:13] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 Coined [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=114658|here]].
-**Max's First Law:** If you ISOT something from the future into the past, the result is a **[[alternate history:wank]]**.
+**Max's First Law:** If you **[[ISOT]]** something from the future into the past, the result is a **[[alternate history:wank]]**.
 **Corollary to the above:** The greater the technological and social advantage of the changed societies in question, the greater the wank.
+----
+==== Comments from the creator ====
+Originally used in a joking context by [[offtopic:blue_max|Blue Max]] at the link posted above, Max's First Law is, while perhaps not an absolute truth, at least a //prima facie// guideline that's true in most cases.  The factors behind the wank would be:
+**1.) Technological Advantage**.  A society or group from the future knows how to do more things more efficiently than people in the past do.  Even an advantage of the last 20 years would be a very serious affair.  Generally, a technological edge holds unless the ISOT is between a nation pre and post collapse.
+**2.) Foresight**.  Knowing what happens in the Past, at least before the butterfly effect becomes dominant, can provide critical advantages.  In this regard, even an ISOT to yesterday can be a strong boon.
+**3.) Access to Increased Resources**.  Past societies have more non-reusable resources available than are available in the present.  This means that more oil, coal, and groundwater can be used for a nation (or group, society, or relevant term.)
+These three factors tend to make most ISOTs wanks; and in general, the further in the past the ISOT, the greater the wank.  This premise is perhaps simple common sense, but despite this observation, ISOTs remain common ASB threads.
+----
+==== Criticism ====
-==== Comments from the creator ====
+This approach is not upheld by [[Harry Turtledove]] (in, e.g., //[[guns of the south|The Guns of the South]]//) and is also strongly objected to by [[offtopic:Thande]] as anachronic prejudice (or "time-ism" as the writers of //[[163x|1632]]// call it). [[offtopic:Thande]]'s own story series **//[[offtopic:Complete Works of Thande#There'll Always Be An England]]//** originated as an attempt to show how ridiculous this idea is by having the past defeat the present.
-Originally used in a joking context by [[offtopic:blue_max|Blue Max]] at the link posted above, Max's First Law is, while perhaps not an absolute truth, at least a prima facie guideline that's true in most cases.  The factors behind the wank would be:
+----
-**1.) Technological Advantage**.  A society or group from the future knows how to do more things more efficiently than people in the past do.  Even an advantage of the last 20 years would be a very serious affair.  Generally, a technological edge holds unless the ISOT is between a nation pre and post collapse.
+==== See Also ====
-**2.) Foresight**.  Knowing what happens in the Past, at least before the butterfly effect becomes dominant, can provide critical advantages.  In this regard, even an ISOT to yesterday can be a strong boon.
+**[[Alien Space Bats]]**
-**3.) Access to Increased Resources**.  Past societies have more non-reusable resources available than are available in the present.  This means that more oil, coal, and groundwater can be used for a nation (or group, society, or relevant term.)
+**[[ISOT]]**
-These three factors tend to make most ISOTs wanks; and in general, the further in the past the ISOT, the greater the wank.  This premise is perhaps simple common sense, but despite this observation, ISOTs remain common ASB threads.
+**[[Wank]]**
+----
-==== Criticism ====
+==== Navigation ====
-This approach is not upheld by [[Harry Turtledove]] (in, e.g., //The Guns of the South//) and is also strongly objected to by [[offtopic:Thande]] as anachronic prejudice (or "time-ism" as the writers of //1632// call it). His work //[[offtopic:Complete Works of Thande#There'll Always Be An England]]// originated as an attempt to show how ridiculous this idea is by having the past defeat the present.
+**[[alternate history:alternate history|Alternate History Topics Section Main Directory]]**