Originally posted by ccmalo:
All these 'creative' accounting suggestions still end up with a small population though.
Nevertheless, given a harsh environment it would be enough to ensure survival unless they were attacked by a superior military force.
Assume we make it 5,000 or stretch it somehow to 10,000. Either case, no problem.
I wasn't thinking about genetic viability. In fact the genetic issue had not occurred to me.
I was looking at technological viability.
Even 10,000 people is just too few to fill the niches needed to keep a technological culture alive.
Much of the knowledge of Krypton must have been lost, regardless of how well recorded it was.
In the middle and late 20th century many people were employed to interpret American product manuals for non native speakers of English. the writers of such manuals took many bits of background knowledge for granted.
Most written instructional material takes some basic knowledge for granted.
It happens everywhere, little bits of knowledge that require some other bit to be able to form a proper question.
Years ago I came in to work one day to find the staff and managers fighting with a jammed lock. They were going to drill it out because after two hours the locksmith had not been able to get it to unlock.
As part of patent safety the door was KEPT locked electricly. Remove the power and the "solid" latch the bolt was in pops back into a hole. Took two seconds to pop the circuit breaker and open the "jammed" door.
The ONLY way New Krypton could survive is with a vast influx of skilled folks.
So a Clark that ends up as "Lord Kal El", ruling this group, the same Clark that we know is widely read and well traveled, is going to see this in next to no time.
I don't think Clark Kent is going to let "Traditions" and "The way we've always done things" stop him.
A society so lacking in population and skills is not going to be able to afford an idle nobility.
Their "battles" and "wars" are simply folks rearranging deck chairs and staterooms on the Titanic.
Clark being Clark will want to help and given any sort of power he WILL help.
