There Is No Planet B (For Worldbuilding)

Reaction to the article’s thesis

• Several commenters found the essay’s argument muddled: it spends effort showing how shallow fictional worlds are versus reality, then seems to leap to “we need Mars / Planet B for richer stories,” which many see as a non sequitur.
• Others restated the argument more charitably: only real worlds can reach true “depth”; future space-settled societies will provide multiple real, deeply complex settings for history-like storytelling.
• Some think this claim is already undermined by AI and simulation, which could fill in arbitrary amounts of fictional detail.

Middle‑earth’s design and realism

• Many defend Middle‑earth as intentionally “small” and selectively detailed so it can stay coherent while hinting at much greater depth (unexplained backstories, ruins, lost peoples, etc.).
• The setting is repeatedly compared to post‑Roman or early medieval Europe: depopulated, degraded infrastructure, long technological stagnation after multiple collapses, which some see as plausible.
• Others note that given the apparent empty land, Malthusian pressure should have driven more expansion and population growth than depicted.

Worldbuilding vs storytelling

• Strong pushback against the idea that more intricate worldbuilding is inherently better: readers want compelling characters and drama, not encyclopedic coverage of millions of people.
• Overly complex settings risk endless exposition; good works “show not tell” and use suggestive hints to create an “impression of depth.”
• Conversely, some readers explicitly enjoy RPG manuals, setting wikis, and encyclopedia‑style lore for its own sake.

Scale, travel, and technology

• Several comments correct misconceptions about premodern travel and demography: most people walked; horses mostly hauled cargo; stagecoach‑style networks were rare and expensive.
• Some feel the films exaggerate the wilderness and underplay farming and infrastructure relative to the books.
• Technological stasis is interpreted by some as a deliberate thematic choice (e.g., suspicion of industrialization, “the Machine” as a kind of meta‑villain).

AI, infinity, and simulated worlds

• Discussion branches into whether imagination is “infinite,” using examples like π, Kolmogorov complexity, and playful ideas like file systems embedded in π.
• Others counter that algorithmic infinity is not the same as human imagination, and current AI‑driven narrative agents quickly become predictable, though future improvement is expected.
• Some envision MMOs or simulations with many autonomous agents as a route to much denser, emergent worldbuilding.

Worldbuilding as hobby and procrastination

• Rising interest in “worldbuilding” is linked to the explosion of amateur writing, games, and fanfiction.
• Multiple commenters describe worldbuilding as the procrastination sweet spot: more fun to design cultures, maps, or histories than to finish plots and character arcs.

Ethics, aliens, and “evil” creatures

• A long subthread debates whether intelligent predators (like giant spiders) are “evil” or just acting as animals, raising questions about moral relativism, cannibalism, and how fantasy often bakes in absolute moral categories.

Planet B and Mars

• One commenter objects that invoking Mars as “Planet B” is misleading even rhetorically: making Mars habitable would be vastly harder than fixing Earth, so it should not be seen as a realistic backup.
• Others still find extreme environments (Antarctica, deserts, Mars) intrinsically appealing as places to explore and live despite hardship.