We have to remember that:
the Solar Technarcy rules the populations of Earth, Mars, Venus and the Jovian moons;
the Council of the League of Alpha Centauri rules the populations of five Centaurian planets;
the bureaucracy of the Commercial Society rules entire populations inhabiting a fleet of large interstellar spaceships.
What do we see of these populations apart from a few individuals? We are shown a Commons street scene on Earth. The Centaurian ambassador to Sol reminisces about his life on the planet, Thor. We do not see inside any Society ship - as far as I have reread and as far as I can remember - but maybe they would be similar to the Nomad and Kith ships that we see in other Andersonian future histories?
"...the Society...really was a nomad culture, patriarchal and polygamous..." (CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 102)
A few phrases convey compact information.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think any set of spaceships, traveling between stars by STL means, would necessarily become a nomadic culture, because of the lengthy periods of time needed. Yes, things like the Commercial Society and the Kith would be plausible.
But, not if FTL is possible. Because you wouldn't need ships with large crews for journeys lasting, at most, a couple of months.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Of course, in THE LONG WAY HOME, each interstellar journey is instantaneous to the crew but apparently, because they spend their lives trading, they live in the ships.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But not outside those ships, where observers noted how it took years, decades, or centuries for a particular Society ship to reach a desired destinations. If the crews of such ships are going to have some kind of culture or families, large crews will be needed who live in those ships.
Ad astra! Sean
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