Ufyukyu

up vote 6 down vote favorite Larry Niven defines a macro-life civilisation as one that lives in interstellar spacecraft, independent of planetary resources and culture, full time and by implication keeps moving. This could mean small but self-sufficient generation ships or could entail something as vast as a ram-jetting Ringworld with a star for a fusion drive. Such a civilisation, once formed, would appear to have no resource reason to resettle on planets, (near asteroid belts yes; at the bottom of a planetary gravity well no), and in terms of long-term species survival macro-life seems, to me, the better bet. The individual case answer will obviously vary based on cultural mores but I'm interested in the logical answer based on resources and long-term survival goals, to that end: Why would a successful macro-life civilisatio