# What sci-fi universe would you live in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334 "2004-05-21T07:39:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dangergene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@dangergene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangergene)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/61 "2004-05-24T02:20:00Z")
I’d be up for Tom Strong’s Millenium City. Zepplin’s! Helicopter backpacks! Mermaid princesses! Deep earth envoys! Flying Saucers! Were do I join the Strongmen of America? (well, aside from the inside cover of issue 1). or the cooler, but much more dangerous Los Angeles (?) in Jon Courtney Grimwood’s RedRobe. I want a talking gun!!! (well…I really just want the AI devices that interact with the user on a better-than-friends level. The talking cars were fun too, as was the conical habitat floating in space a la the port city in Treasure Planet). His version of Iskandria would be cool too. ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/62 "2004-05-24T04:40:32Z")
Probably Card’s universe in _Ender’s Game_, on the school ship. Maybe as an adult, or some such; not a kid, but a fly on the wall. I loved losing myself time and time again in that book. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/63 "2004-05-28T05:15:27Z")
Much as I’d like to hang with Heinlein’s redheads, I am also drawn to \*\*Callahan’s \*\* another place where everybody knows your name, and some incredible music is played — in between bouts of Saving All Humanity. Hey, if it’s good enough for Pixel… ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/64 "2004-05-28T06:03:28Z")
Varley’s Eight worlds was an easy choice for me. Medical technology advanced to the point that you’re functionally immortal (the most common cause of death is suicide, with the reason usually boredom), and can easily and inexpensively alter yourself to look any way you like. Crimes are solved at a nearly 100% rate. Never heard of the Culture, so I can’t comment on it, but I think Varley’s moon would be much preferable to Heinlein’s, though it seems apparent to me that Varley borrowed a bit from Heinlein. It’s almost as if he created an alternate future history that diverged from Heinleins shortly after the revolution in _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/65 "2004-05-28T15:10:55Z")
For the culture and feel of being in a real world, Darkover. For hanging out with a bunch of nekkid people, Tellus Tertius (and I _do not_ want to think about how involved a group marriage there would be if the SDMB migrated to Tellus Tertius, given how many people have picked that planet so far…). ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/66 "2004-05-28T16:34:19Z")
I love the Dune-iverse and all (as evidenced by my name here), but unless I was actually an Atreides, I’m not sure I’d want to live in it myself. So, don’t tell the Herbert estate, but I’d have to vote for the Culture. Changing sex at will? Sign me up! Glanding drugs? Woo-hoo? Lava-rafting? Yee-haw! Actually, now that I think about it, it’s not that different than my life now…(don’t ask). ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/67 "2004-05-28T18:06:26Z")
I’ll tell you what…Naboo just looks awesome to me. I would love to live there, but of course I don’t want to be there for whatever nasty fate lies in store when the Empire takes over. I’ll take it like, 100 years prior to Empire? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/68 "2004-05-30T15:54:10Z")
> [@Shadez](#): > > Probably Card’s universe in _Ender’s Game_, on the school ship. Maybe as an adult, or some such; not a kid, but a fly on the wall. > > I loved losing myself time and time again in that book. Finally, someone else who wants to be in EG. I wondered if I was the only one that would love that. I’m with you in losing myself in the book. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/69 "2004-05-30T17:55:28Z")
> [@Juniper200](#): > > 'Cause the Starfleet unitards would not be at all flattering on my hips.) No worries. If you’ve watched the show, you know that all the women have any excess hip weight moved to their chests. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pipperroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@pipperroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipperroo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/70 "2004-05-31T02:50:59Z")
Good question. I think I’d want to be on Anne McCaffery’s Pern, but again, I’d want to be a dragonrider. Sherri Tepper has some cool settings, such as Woman’s Country, but not all of them are easy to live in. Does Wizard of Oz count as SF? ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/71 "2004-05-31T04:00:55Z")
Ender’s Game, at Battle School at the time the book’s events takes place - that is, if I could be a dozen years younger. Possibly the Fallout universe, to travel the wastes as part of some militant organization - Brotherhood of Steel, Enclave, whatever, as long as I could bring myself to believe in its goals. Barring those, Heinlein’s Starship Troopers universe, also to fight. For a libertarian, I’d have a lot of fun exerting coercive force. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/72 "2004-05-31T04:20:34Z")
Mmmkay… Another vote for Callahans as well. So meny times I wish I could have really found my way there… I like the Known Space universe, but I think I’d pick the three-hundred-year Golden Age between when the ARMs enforce peace, and when the Kzinti arrive. Another vote for Tellus Tertius. We’ve already got the redheads and a **Maureen** (one of my favourite names by the way, partly because of _Time Enough for Love_) to get started. 🙂 Of course, if the theory is to be believed, even fictional universes are accessible from other timelines with the right travel equipment. Doesn’t Dora go to Oz at one point? I’ve never read any of the Culture stuff. Time to hit the SF library again… ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334/73 "2004-05-31T06:26:58Z")
I’ve wanted to be one of the Doctor’s companions since I were a wee Miss Boods… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sci-fi-universe-would-you-live-in/246334.md?page=3)