[Victory Dreams of Techno-Sleep]
(This is part of a science fiction world descript.)
This is a world where the dominant cultural attitude is being “sensible”.
What does that mean exactly? A lot of public shame and self-precautions, making the “sensible” decision, some generational angst (and angst in general), and the idea that people should know what they’re doing. That everything should just make sense.
Add in a profound distrust of technology among the cultural majority, except for when it’s too useful to ignore (like in agriculture and medical care). Also add in a rebellious subsect that flaunts their illegal tech. And a combination of attire that warrants its own post. (You can tell this comes from me dabbling in steampunk, right?)
And that is the basic premise.
Now for how society is set up.
The vast majority of this planet is one sprawling city. In practice, this works more like multiple cities that line up suburbs together. There are a variety of different districts, most notable among them the Capital District and the Parliament District. Each district functions almost independently, except for instances where they must cooperate or follow worldwide laws (which are practically nonexistent legally but prolific in practice). Members from each district (even the capital) do vote amongst themselves to elect, depending on population, at least one representative to this world’s Parliament. There are political parties, but they are notoriously disorganized to the point that most political candidates run as an independent, with some party name they created, or on the name of someone else who was already elected. However, this world’s Parliament only convenes for a few days once a year. (This is sensible since representatives are not paid for this work, so everyone does have other obligations.)
There are small sections of underdeveloped coastline and countryside. A lot of food production is actually done via technology, since even the most technophobic can recognize the necessity of this. Food production also occurs on a smaller scale in rooftop gardens and greenhouse spaces. However, it should be noted that the districts rarely grow very tall. Usually, they don’t top about four or five floors at the absolute most.
There is minimal cost in food and housing. This is sensible, since everyone needs food and housing to stay alive. And keeping people alive is sensible since otherwise there would be more suffering. Landlords do own property, but they tend to pride themselves on keeping costs low. Taxes are virtually nonexistent since public servants are either unpaid or their would-be jobs are handled via technology. Healthcare is another area where people pride themselves on keeping costs low, even in state hospitals (which are, in practice, independent entities). People do work and hold jobs, usually, but the average workday is (at most) maybe four hours for six days a week. To keep things simple, this world has the same number of weeks, days, and months as Earth.
However, to add in some complexity, years are counted by a person’s age. This means that, for example, someone will write the date by writing their own age. If it’s January 12, 2020, and someone was born in 1999, then they write the date as 12 Jan 21. The age of notable figures (such as Parliament members for a district, local celebrities, or heads of major companies) are used to maintain consistency on a larger scale. For example, an employee dating an official form for a company run by someone named Rubert Henson would write 12 Jan 47 R.H.
Yes, the year number changes on the person’s birthday (not on the calendar year). This is actually a big part of the celebrations.
There is almost no atmosphere pollution or speedy public transit (another reason to only have Parliament meetings once a year). People, even if they are not Ekzers, actually tend to be very creative in transportation. For more information, see [technologies seen and their restrictions]. Atmosphere filters do exist, but they look vaguely like wooden windmills. (Again, this is considered a technological necessity, albeit a debated one.)
I’ll probably add some more to this section later as this world evolves.
[There’s a joke in one of the red dwarf books about how Rimmer gets a girlfriend in an alternate reality. The only good thing he can really say about her and why he likes her is that she’s “sensible”, as he pendulums from foot to foot. I love that joke.]
[First post of 2020! :)]
