Hi Jay.

> I think HBP handwaved the limitations of technology there to ask the next question -  what would you do if you had such a machine?

Agreed.

> I think the overall sweep of THFH suggests that HBO didn't think Merlin was going to make that much of a difference - the forces of history were too big for even a cosmic computer to over come.
>
> OTOH - there's a stretch of time there where Conn Mawell and his descendants might have lived long happy lives before history caught up with them.

You are probably correct on the first point but I don't think these two course are incompatible.

Just because there doesn't seem to have been an enduring "League of Civilized Worlds," that doesn't mean Trask's descendants on Tanith fell into "chicken-stealing" and barbarism. They may very well have enjoyed prosperity and security -- perhaps in partnership with Marduk (and their respective "trade planets") -- into the period when the Galactic Empire was established (especially if was established by Marduk).

Similarly, it's possible that Conn's descendants on Poictesme also enjoyed prosperity and security after the collapse of the Federation, throughout the Viking era and into the early years of the Empire era -- even if that circumstance was distinct from whatever was happening around Marduk (and Tanith).

Cheers,

David
--
"It is not . . . the business of an author of fiction to improve or inspire or educate his reader, or to save the world from fascism, communism, racism, capitalism, socialism, or anything else.  [The author's] main objective is to purvey entertainment of the sort his reader wants.  If he has done this, by writing interestingly about interesting people, human or otherwise, doing interesting things, he has discharged his duty and earned his check." - H. Beam Piper, "Double: Bill Symposium" interview