Hello, SFIA audio listeners.

In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare

is because most aliens are huge.

To hear it and every episode early and ad-free,

plus hours of bonus content,

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

In the distant future, you might not answer to a president or a parliament, but pledge

fealty to a Baron of the Asteroy belt or a Duke of the Martian Valleys.

Feudalism in space, knights, mechs, and spacelords.

In the vacuum of space, where a single railgun blast can punch a hole through a starship's

hull, who really holds power?

Is it democratically elected councils back on Earth, or the warlord in an orbital fortress,

clad in power armor, commanding of private fleets and a retinue of loyal retainers.

Feudalism is hugely popular in science fiction, likely for the same reason so many

space operas resemble cowboys and Indians' tales, but with laser pistols instead of revolvers, and

aliens instead of natives.

Another equally romanticized era is that of classic medieval knights or their cousins, the samurai,

or other elite warriors of feudal societies.

It makes for engaging stories, and we've seen a lot of them.

We have to assume that's all it is, just stories, that feudalism is something consigned in the past,

not a system that might emerge in our future.

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