The Ai Chun in
World Without Stars and the Alori in
The Peregrine cannot tolerate the existence of a culture fundamentally different from their own whereas the Monwaingi in
After Doomsday divide into radically different "Societies," - e.g., extremely collectivist or extremely individualistic - which can coexist peacefully on a single colony planet. In the Technic History, we are given to understand that Ythrian choths also vary widely although perhaps we do not see this in practice. Ythrians find it difficult to understand human concepts of "nation" and "government." These are four of many works by Poul Anderson, all of them different. All that we really know about aliens is that they are alien and are bound to be different. One single datum will be worth more than any amount of speculation.
4 comments:
Poul had to make the Ythrians winged for them to have a civilization at all -- a certain density of contact is necessary for that.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
With choths being how Ythrians built something bigger, in theory, than the nuclear family.
For humans that was this: family, clan, tribe, nations (large and small).
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yes. Family/clan/tribe have existed from the very earliest point we can detect.
Nations (or city-states) are psychologically sort of an enlarged tribe.
So are other things -- for example, a trade-union builds on the same emotional reflexes as a tribe, and so does an army or a sports team's supporters.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and I'm sure some people can get very emotionally attached, tribalistic, even about chess clubs!
Ad astra! Sean
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