: It is, but since the existence of an FTL communications network and
: multi-species communities have been established, it would be nice if the
: implications of those would be examined as well. Technologies never exist
: in a vacuum. They always have an effect on the society around them.

: And that idea has always been at the core of science fiction -- how would
: things change if this or that thing were different from our world, whether
: that means the introduction of a new technology or contact with alien
: cultures. It's too often, however, (especially in popular SF) that writers
: just throw in concepts like an FTL comm net or multi-species planets and
: never really follow through with their wider implications.

: There's some examination into that and some works do it better than others,
: but it's still maybe 80-90% of media that keeps recycling the same
: UNSC-Covenant (or UNSC-Innies) shtick. The very existence of a
: "Covenant" that's outwardly indistinguishable from the original
: thing right down to its name in the post-war era is symptomatic of that.

: The more serious and interesting exploration of cross-cultural integration
: tends to be relegated to peripheral content, like Canon Fodder articles.
: And even when it happens, it's usually just general and vague statements
: in the vein of "human and Sangheili weaponsmiths work together to
: forge new implements of war". I'd like to see more of the nitty
: gritty details of how these things are worked out in practice, you know?

: I'd also argue that HtT didn't really even dip into the mechanics of
: cross-colony communications. The network is just there, it's basically
: like the internet but in space, and none of the implications of that are
: seriously elaborated on.

It's only been 50 years since first contact (or not even 50 years) between humanity and the Covenant. I don't know if it's fair to compare the Halo universe with the ME universe in that manner as we're just figuring each other out and still reeling from a interplanetary war and the Flood.

- MacGyver10