Compare two futures
Who governs, who benefits, and which terms remain open?
Compare any two entries. Their differences are editorial descriptions, not distances on a common scale.
Life and institutions
The last human generations may regard what succeeds them with pride. That favorable view of succession still leaves a disagreement between valuing an inheritance and wanting humans themselves to continue.
Those who stay keep the shared tools. Elsewhere, settlers face questions about dependence and return. The arrangement can divide lives without settling who has final power.
Practical authority
Artificial successors ultimately determine their own world.
Human self-government on Earth; authority elsewhere and over successor AI varies with the offer.
Benefits and costs
A valued legacy can continue through different kinds of beings. Biological human continuity ends; collective approval need not settle individual consent.
Different paths can coexist without depriving those who decline. Separation and dependence may make a nominal exit difficult to reverse.
Practical human governing authorityDifferent or incomplete terms
Humans do not retain practical final authority
Linked source premise. The linked Descendants premise ultimately replaces human society with artificial successors.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. Earth retains human government, while settlement authority and the successor-AI veto depend on the offer.
Revisable governing mandates
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people can effectively replace governing mandates.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people can effectively replace governing mandates.
A practical right to leaveDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people have a usable right to leave.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. Return terms and the practical ability to leave settlements depend on the offer.
Several self-governing communitiesDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether several communities govern themselves.
Several communities exercise their own rule
Additional project hypothetical. Earth governs itself while settlers pursue another path; more than one community is an explicit project premise.
A guaranteed material floorDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether everyone receives a guaranteed material floor.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. Shared tools remain, but maintenance and distribution are not uniformly guaranteed.
Private ownership of productive resources
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether private ownership organizes productive resources.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether private ownership organizes productive resources.
Continuing biological humanityExplicit difference
Biological humanity does not continue
Linked source premise. The linked premise describes replacement of biological humanity, regarded as a worthy inheritance rather than conquest.
Biological humanity continues
Additional project hypothetical. The project stipulates biological travel and continued human life, without uploading.
Others’ choice to transform themselves
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether feasible substantial transformation is legally permitted.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether feasible substantial transformation is legally permitted.
Standing for artificial persons
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether artificial persons have institutional standing.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether artificial persons have institutional standing.
Enforced limits on selected capabilitiesDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether institutions enforce a ceiling on selected capabilities.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. The successor-AI veto changes between offers.
Visible exercise of governing powerDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people know who exercises governing power.
People know who exercises governing power
Additional project hypothetical. The departure offer and Earth’s human government are publicly acknowledged in the project scenario.
Practical independence from a technical providerDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether communities can operate without an indispensable technical provider.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. Earth and settlements have different dependencies; the provider’s terms remain contested.
Open questions
Dissent, individual survival options and successor institutions.
Enforceable return, settlement government and the successor veto.
These are authored descriptors. An unresolved feature is not evidence of a guarantee, a conflict or equivalence. Consult Descendants sources or The Departure sources.