In a male barracks, a large telescreen shows:
"...the mindless, tasteless sort of program intended for this class..." (p. 96)
The crew of an interstellar spaceship has been divided into socioeconomic classes with mindless, tasteless entertainment provided for the lowest class. On Earth, such social divisions developed and occurred for historical and economic reasons although it became possible to move beyond them. In the Pioneer, the divisions can only have been planned by people who knew what they were doing and it surprises me that apparently no one in the crew realizes this.
When I first read this story, I accepted that it was about a future society but it is a society in a spaceship which has been in flight for only eighty years, not for centuries, and which was designed and constructed with different kinds of accommodation and cultural provision for the different ranks. During rereading, my willing suspension of disbelief is strained.
There could, of course, have been a future historical sub-series entirely about the six generations within the spaceship followed by a sequel about the colonization of a planet of Alpha Centauri but the Psychotechnic History includes only this single story about the Pioneer in mid-flight. Poul Anderson would have needed an indefinitely prolonged lifetime to follow up every implication of his several future histories.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Anderson wrote very well so I read "The Troublemakers" with a willing suspension of disbelief. But I agree it's not one of his better stories, when examined in detail.
Considering how all humans are different in tastes, vices, virtues, abilities, wealth, circumstances of life, etc., social stratification is inevitable. Something to be managed, not eliminated. And I don't think most people will care all that much about being "high brow" in culture.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that in a society without significant immigration and any social mobility at alln -- which is certainly true of a generation starship -- there is a distinct correlation between social class and intelligence.
About 80% of IQ, absent strong environmental insults during childhood, is genetic.
And high IQ is a good predictor for social mobility.
So, over time, the upper classes will get smarter and the lower classes dumber.
This is particularly true if there is a degree of sexual equality.
Executives in the US used to marry secretaries fairly frequently. Nowadays they tend to marry their female equivalents; so do doctors, scientists and other professionals.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That makes sense to me, meaning social stratification in a generation star ship is virtually inevitable. Something to be made as benign as possible, not eliminated. Another reason for dismissing Utopian impossibilities.
Ad astra! Sean
Not all Utopias are impossible.
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