culture
Snippet: A Saying
“Judge ye! And know that ye are judged in turn.” – Tectar Asamis, Second Exemplar of Saravoné
culture
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Illegal Religion
Illegal Religion: Well, now. While neither the Fundamental Contract nor the Imperial Charter considers freedom of religion a fundamental right (those would all be much more, um, fundamental), it is, in most ways, a strict subset of those which it does recognize. The latter does, however, mention freedom of philosophy
worldbuilding
Worldbuilding: It's Always The Twentieth Century In Space
Customs. Customs never change. Even when there is basically no in-universe connection to the customs with which we must comply. This meta-post is inspired by the current flap (and lies, damned lies, and open letters from activists) about Rebecca Tuvel’s transracialism article and the ensuring prompt outrage excursion from
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: The Future Will Be Better
The Future Will Be Better: Well, obviously. We’re working to improve the present all the time, and we’re fundamentally awesome, so there’s basically no way the future can’t be better. Why would you even ask that question? (In Earth-relative terms, the Imperial cultural climate successfully blends
culture
The Problem Of Choice
Given the overall emphasis the eldrae place on freedom of choice and freedom of choices, how do they deal with issues of overchoice and the apparently paradoxical consequence that having too many choices on the table makes people less likely to effectively make the right choice due to the need
blogging from a to z
Normality
(Alternate words: None. No words, that is, not literally “none”.) normal (n.): 1. conforming to an average (mean), or to a common type (mode); 2. (pej.) mediocre; 3. … Visitors to the Empire and culturally-related regions should take particular note of the second, pejorative meaning of the word “normal”. In a
blogging from a to z
Clothing
(Alternate words: Citadel and Computronium, both of which have been added to the later-consideration list.) Clothes define the sophont, the sages say. That the sages are indubitably correct on this point is, however, a distinct trial to those of us addressing a crisis, and so finding ourselves dashing aboard the
memetics
Mind Plagues
cultural contamination (n.): The passage of memes and their sociotypes between cultures, often with associated unrest, due to contact between them. Attitudes to cultural contamination vary widely across known space. The extreme poles of this are the Voniensa Republic, whose policy is to avoid cultural contamination to the greatest extent
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: The White Prince
The White Prince/Sheltered Aristocrat: See also Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense for the purely financial aspects of this (post-scarcity vs. poverty), but this also applies across the Associated Worlds and their Decade Dissonance, and in general… well, let’s just say that the most developed civilizations are more
culture
Mutual Annihilation
antiriot (n.): A social version of pair production. To fully explain the antiriot, it is first necessary to explain the riot. This is a socially-accepted form of low-level terrorism found on some barbarian outworlds, in which a mob engages in violence and property destruction as a means to coerce – through
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Romanticism Versus Enlightenment
Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Go, Team Enlightenment! (Were you expecting something else?) Of course, just phrasing it that way is to greatly understate the influence, even dominance, of technepraxic philosophy in the Worlds in general and the Empire in particular, which riffs on the general theme of science and reason and
culture
Memorial
The Empire has its monuments to its battles and retreats, to its victories and losses, but more curious perhaps to many are those monuments it has to those who fought against it. On my way into the system, the liner on which I was travelling passed the moon Hyníne, where