In Poul Anderson's Technic History:
the Polesotechnic League serves the mutual interests of its member companies;
the Terran Empire is defensive and does not represent the whole of humanity;
the Commonalty serves paying planetary governments in one spiral arm.
Anderson's earlier Psychotechnic History shows several successive organizations serving humanity as a whole:
under the UN world government, the Psychotechnic Institute and the Un-men;
in the Solar Union, the Order of Planetary Engineers;
in the Stellar Union, the Coordination Service;
in Galactic civilization, psychotechnicians.
There is obvious continuity between United Nations, Solar Union and Stellar Union although the Second Dark Ages separate the Solar and Stellar Unions;
psychotechnics links the Psychotechnic Institute to the Order of Planetary Engingeers;
Coordinators link the Order to early interstellar exploration, then to the Coordination Service;
the Nomads link the Coordinators to the Galactic psychotechnicians.
Thus, there is long term historical continuity despite the lack of any single surviving organization and even though the Order is at one stage obliged to oppose an exiled remnant of the outlawed Psychotechnic Institute.
2 comments:
Humans evolved as creatures of the clan and tribe. That's why so many ethnonyms translate as "The Friends" (as opposed to everyone else, "the Enemy") or "The People" (as opposed to all you Not Really People).
Being behaviorally flexible, humans can expand this sense of belonging; but the further you stretch it, the less stable it becomes.
Kaor, Paul!
And my belief that working for one's selfish interests can also be beneficial to many others by selling them goods and services they want or need at affordable prices. That is part of the genius of free enterprise economics, after all!
And the Terran Empire never claimed to represent or govern all mankind. Compared to the grandiose ambitions of Merseia, its aspirations were downright MODEST.
And I'm skeptical of any organization or institution which claims to ONLY serve mankind. Esp. gov'ts and states. Too often they end up becoming tyrannical and oppressive. I far prefer the Terran Empire, which never had any ambitions about immanentizing the eschaton to Merseia, which in effect did have such dreams.
Sean
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