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"The germinal societies like Singapore and communist Hong Kong may give us a mutant capitalism that is both virulent and efficient. This is a significant cultural danger."
- Gregory Benford
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| Strakh | ||
| The prestige or social prominence which serves as a medium of exchange on the planet Sirene. |
On the Titanic littoral, on the planet Sirene, food and resources are available in such abundance that the finest things of life are available for the taking. The natives of Sirene, rather than pursue material goods, instead put their energy into intricacy.
| Intricacy in all things: intricate craftsmanship... intricate symbolism... and above all the fantastic intricacy of personal relationships. Prestige, face, mana, repute, glory: the Sirenese word is strakh. Every man has his characteristic strakh, which determines, when he needs a houseboat, whether he will be urged to avail himself of a floating palace... or grudgingly permitted an abandoned shack on a raft. There is no medium of exchange on Sirene; the single and sole currency is strakh.
... it would be catastrophic to Sirenese self-respect to gain advantage by means other than the exercise of strakh. |
| Technovelgy from The Moon Moth,
by Jack Vance. Published by Pocket Books in 1976 Additional resources -
|
For example, all Sirenese wear masks to reflect their strakh; you just walk into a maskmaker's shop and pick out what you want. Of course, there's a catch:
"... it's rather important not to take anything from the shops until you know the strakh value of the article you want. The owner loses prestige if a person of low strakh makes free with his best work."
Compare to whuffie from Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003) by Cory Doctorow.
"...Wear any mask you like - as long as you can make it stick. This Tarn Bird [which I wear] for instance. I wear it to indicate that I presume nothing. I make no claims to wisdom, ferocity, versatility, musicianship, truculence, or any of a dozen other Sirenese virtues..."
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Moon Moth
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Vance
Tech news articles related to The Moon Moth
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Vance
Strakh-related
news articles:
- RapLeaf, Whuffie and Strakh
- Reputation As Property
- Klout Score Measures Your Influence
- China's Social Credit System - A Facebook-1984 Mashup
- China Requires Social Credit Codes Of Live Stream Users
| Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF |
| Robot Preachers Found To Undermine Religious Commitment |
| Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth? |
| Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke |
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