Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
Point is, no matter how it happens Rejoinings still require the cessation of existence for entire worlds - their peoples, history, and culture consigned to oblivion. Even if life were (subjectively) "better" in such a world, most people would doubtlessly oppose that purely (and justifiably) on the grounds of self-preservation.

No amount of sophistry can change that.
I think the original proposition involved a gradual tapering-off. No new life would be born on the worlds, and all existing life would live out their existence until natural death. No one would be asked to give up their life - just their potential for children. As for history and cultures, those could still be preserved through historical records and such, just as lost cultures are (sometimes) preserved under ordinary circumstances.

All this, of course, would STILL be a very hard sell. Which is why I remarked a while back that if we had the potential for this, we'd basically be living in a utopian society already.

Still, after seeing what the ancients used to have, I think it's quite likely that there would be more than a few pepole pushing for this if it could be done gently. (And a few, like Varis, who would push for it regardless...)