The Imperial Charter: Section Thirteen

[avatar (Alistair Young)]

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@Specialist290 <specialist290@hughes.net> on 2016-09-06 19:58:17 wrote

This leads me to conclude that (rather ironically in light of their apparent commitment to absolute individual liberty) one of the deviations from baseline that hasn’t been highlighted all that much by comparison with the others is a somewhat lower threshold for trust – since I personally don’t think I’d be comfortable with the idea of consenting to allow someone else to tinker with my head on a regular basis, no matter how demonstrably foolproof the system is or how spotless its reputation up to this point is.

@Alistair Young <athanasius.skytower@arkane-systems.net> on 2016-09-14 04:59:51 wrote

Actually - it’s the other variable that’s different. Not a lower threshold for trust, but the fact that the Empire is a very high-trust culture and society (as should be evident from a comparison of the way they do things there, as revealed in various posts here, and a description of the functioning of said cultures, such as the excerpts here. And in particular, it’s a high-trustworthiness society, and one that emphasizes the obligations of liberty right along with the rights.

I would be uncomfortable with that idea, but that’s because I’m a product of what is, by their standards, a low-trust society. In their NYC-equivalent, people still don’t feel the need to lock their doors. Hell, some people build houses so open-plan they don’t even have doors, and they can rely on folks still respecting the property line. A gentlesoph’s word is his bond, a billion esteyn can safely be committed on a handshake contract, etc.

Which is rather a stark contrast towards our modern Western civilization that, by and large, considers honor archaic and giving one’s word a punch-line, and where obligation is concerned, has not only invented strategic default, but has made the practice so ubiquitous as to give it a jargon of its own.

So, essentially, if I was a product of that society instead of this one, I’d be much more able to trust such institutions without moving my own trust threshold at all.

@Specialist290 <specialist290@hughes.net> on 2016-09-15 18:19:34 wrote

An interesting way of putting it – and in light of that, certain other factors I had thought jarring seem to have come together quite nicely.

And, incidentally, bookmarking that link for further reference, since it’s probably going to be relevant to my own creative endeavors.

@Alistair Young <athanasius.skytower@arkane-systems.net> on 2016-09-14 05:05:54 wrote

(That is pre-Transcend, of course. Obviously, the Transcendent can trust each other absolutely, so…)