Generation Ships

[Frost]

Originally Posted by Sindri

What would a generation ship with enough population and resources to maintain a TL 8 society and some left over focus it's technological advancement on?

Leaving aside the question of why the ship culture is TL 8, whatever resources that are available are likely to be focused upon, primarly theoretical, studies related to improved propulsion systems, life support and colony infrastructure at the end of the day looking for ways to make the journey faster and easier and their position at journey's end more secure.

I would suspect that particularly in the later part of the voyage, unless there is obvious competition with other ships or there are significant problems with the ship its self, that the last category will come to dominate. I would expect that any group with even a bit of relevant experience will have somebody promoting new equipment designs and radicaly modified colony proposals.

In contrast to the volume of theoretical work there may well be almost no practical development. The combination of a fragile environment and strictly limmited resources may well create a strong 'if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality' amongst the authorities overseeing maintence and production which would tend to treat new ideas as part of a library of options to be reviewed at leasure and probably to be held in reserve to address specific problems.

To take a specific example, you may well find that while there are half a dozen different proposals circulating to improve engine performance and shorten the flight that as long as the ship appears to be capable of compleating its mission comfortably according to the oridginal plan that the engines are still exactly the same peices of equipment that left earth at the start of the voyage.

This disparity between theory and practice may well be one of the major drivers of political activity on the ship with groups possibly even small scale conspiracies working to implement specific innovations.