James Ching tells us:
"League apprenticeships are scarcer than hair on a neutron, and mostly filled by relatives. (That's less nepotism for its own sake than a belief that kin of survivor types are more likely to be the same than chance-met groundhugger kids.) (p. 179)
A splendid rationalization! I was the complete opposite of my father, a successful businessman.We begin to understand why there is social disaffection in the Solar Commonwealth.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure I entirely agree with you. I can see it being possible that relatives of quick witted, quick thinking, survivor types might be more likely to SOMETIMES have the qualities needed for life and work in space than a similar number of chance-met "groundhuggers." At the same, I would also have the member companies of the League assign half of such openings to applicants who don't have any connections with the companies.
Sean
Throughout most of history, most people have done the same jobs their parents did.
Mr Stirling,
True. Now it is possible to aspire to more. I hope that humanity retains and extends recent technological and social advances rather than (all too possibly) losing them.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
By and large, I agree with you, with the caveat that I don't think all social changes are "advances." One being the legalization of abortion.
Sean
Besides genetics(*), there are the advantages of early exposure to a craft, and tapping into a network of connections.
(*) identical twins reared in different families nevertheless tend to be strikingly similar in things like political opinions, hobbies, and choice of occupation.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Exactly! But I would also take care to leave openings for ambitious ground-huggers who didn't have either that kind of early "exposure" or useful connections.
Sean
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