links: cells, Sweden, Fox, Darcy, odd republics, French Africa

( mercy cut )

Feudalism in SF

SF has a notable anti-democratic trend, with Future! Space! Empires! with hereditary rulers and nobles. Asimov's Galactic Empires, Pournelle's CoDominium and Empire, Poul Anderson's empire. Often an empire falls, to be replaced by a second empire.

This hasn't been without rationalization. The usual line is that with poor communications, a feudal structure is good for long-range government. This never felt right, but I was thinking about it in the past day. Really... what? Europe's feudal realms were in rather smaller areas than the Roman Republic at its pre-Imperial height. Roman used pro-consuls and pro-praetors, so there was local autocracy, but appointed by the Senate, not hereditary. And why couldn't a democratic/republican federation handle the needed decentralization? Local governance, representatives sent to the capital. A bit like the early US, or the Commonwealth (though that has a weak Crown still, and had steamships and telegraphs relatively early.)

Locking doors and herd immunity

Reportedly, in small towns, people don't lock their doors much. In cities, we do. In college I had a friend who didn't lock her dorm room, which struck me as weird (though I happily took advantage to drop off surprise flowers.) Sometimes I've wondered about the need for locks; I'm home a lot, and it's not like people come to try the door. (Of course, I live in a good neighborhood.) And it'd probably look weird to go down a street or hallway trying door after door.

But, of course, if no one locked their door, you could just go to any home that looked empty and enter to plunder it. It's the fact that everyone locks their door that means an individual can get away without it, like skipping on vaccination if everyone else gets shots.