Editing The Viability of Extended Colonization

{{Title|''The Viability of Extended Colonization''}}
{{Era|UNSC}}

'''''The Viability of Extended Colonization''''' was an essay written by [[Preston Cole|Preston J. Cole]] for his high school [[Wikipedia:Freshman|Freshman]] [[Human languages#English|English]] class, in approximately [[2485]]. It predicted increasing divergence between the society and culture of [[Earth]] and its [[Human colonies|colonies]] over the course of the [[Domus Diaspora|Colonial era]]. The essay received an overall grade of a [[Wikipedia:Academic grading in the United States|B]].{{Ref/Anthology|Id=Evo|Evo|Story=The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole}}

An excerpt of the essay was included in the report ''[[Historical/Psychological Analysis of Cole, Preston J.]]'', sent by [[Codename: SURGEON]] to [[Codename: USUAL SUSPECTS]] in [[2552]]. SURGEON characterized the essay as clear-sighted and "prophetic", noting that if it had not been verified as legitimate one could easily assume it to have been a fabrication of an [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] [[ONI Section Two|Section-II]] [[propaganda]] campaign.{{Ref/Reuse|Evo}}

=={Excerpt} The Viability of Extended Colonization By Preston J. Cole (age 14)==
:Freshman English / [[Alexander (teacher)|Miss Alexander]]
:Grade received: B
:(Teacher's comments: "Thesis: B / Conclusions: C / Too much speculation and gratuitous use of [[Wikipedia:W. B. Yeats|Yeats]] quotation")

:The metaphor of a [[Wikipedia:Ecosystem|biological system]], for example a [[Wikipedia:Population|population]] of [[List of animals|wolves]] or fungus growth in a [[Wikipedia:Petri dish|Petri dish]], is tempting to apply to colonial expansion.
:There can be three fates for any biological system. It may [[Wikipedia:Carrying capacity|grow]] as long as there are sufficient nutrients, a suitable environment, and no over-predation - the system can enter a [[Wikipedia:Ecological stability|balanced state]] of growth and loss - or the system may [[Wikipedia:Ecological collapse|decline]] from over-predation, lack of nutrients, environmental disaster, or being poisoned by its own waste products.
:Off-world colonies similarly require a stable environment with suitable [[List of food and drinks|food]] and [[water]], and no over-predation. It is considered an [[Wikipedia:Open system (systems theory)|open system]] because there are limitless numbers of habitable planets. (Or at least a very large number within the [[Milky Way|Milky Way Galaxy]]. See my [[Wikipedia:Drake equation|Drake calculation]] assumptions in Appendix B.)
:Human colonies, however, differ in one critical aspect: they are, by rule, inhabited by predictably [[Sentience|intelligent]] entities. The values of these entities can diverge from the parent world with each successive generation. That is, while colonies directly seeded from Earth remain very earthlike in social, economic, and political values, they change with successive generations as they adapt to local environmental pressures, and in turn send out [[Outer Colonies|new colonies]] farther in physical distance and values from the original parent.
:Such [[Wikipedia:Genetic divergence|diversification]] in biological systems is a normal evolutionary process, but it produces offspring that are increasingly alien in nature to the parent.
:Such was the case of [[Wikipedia:Colonization|colonial expansion]] in early Earth history, most notably in the [[Wikipedia:British Empire|British colonies]] in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Those colonies diverged from their parent nations and their resulting different social and economic values culminated in a schism, and in [[United States|one notable case]] a [[Wikipedia:American Revolutionary War|war]] that resulted in a shift in the balance of power, such that one former colony became [[Wikipedia:Pax Americana|the dominant military, cultural and industrial complex on Earth]] for hundreds of years.
:How long can Earth and its [[Inner Colonies|close colonies]] extend without producing offspring that differ sufficiently to [[Insurrectionist|want]] to [[Insurrection|break away]] from the parent? As William Butler Yeats said: "[[Wikipedia:The Second Coming (poem)|The center cannot hold]]."

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''
**''[[The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole]]'' {{1st}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

==See also==
*[[Carver Findings]]

[[Category:Books (Halo)]]
[[Category:Historical/Psychological Analysis of Cole, Preston J.]]