Lieutenant Fusilier in The Farthest Reaches

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xthetenth said:
No, seriously, you're using unjacketed lead, it's a neurotoxin, you're poisoning yourselves, please stop.
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The main reason why lead is so toxic to us is because of how it can sorta replace carbon (four valence electrons, yay!) in several different things. But there are certain villages in the Andes where the locals have a high tolerance for lead, so it is not implausible that the cuddlebugs have a biology that can deal with small amounts of lead.

(And even knowing how toxic the stuff is, there are still some applications where it's the best metal.)

It seems that Sumner might not be picking up the language terribly quickly, and instead just tracking down new words. Once they get to about a thousand ten hundred base words, Dora should be able to take things from there.
 
The sheer temerity to assume that your biology is the one every other species of similar sapience levels, regardless of environmental factors in their own planet and ecosystem, uses.
 
Normally I'd say that there's not a lot you can do to build biochemistry that tolerates heavy metals because their fundamental threat is that they have such complex electron shells that they can always find something to sort of fit into and gum up. But this setting doesn't have our periodic table! Hell, we don't even know if its atoms have electron shells! For all we know, everything works on the plum-pudding model! :D
 
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Here's an idea: if all vehicles are horses, what about a War Elephant? There are, after all, some cultures where the elephant is the very image of regal power.

That's right, the only group with heavy armored vehicles is the various Indian militaries.
 
open_sketch said:
Who even cares how much money we make, it's the 22nd century. Everyone's already got more money than they can spend, I don't see why we need any more.
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I somehow doubt everyone's actually experiencing the kind of post-scarcity environment a true statement of this would imply...

open_sketch said:
My stars, I'd have to go to America and become a marine.
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I'm not sure she qualifies even for that.

She can't eat crayons, after all.
 
Spectrum said:
I somehow doubt everyone's actually experiencing the kind of post-scarcity environment a true statement of this would imply...
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Humans mostly are? To the point where "have your own planet and coterie of machine servitors" is the human norm.

Machines, well... machines interact weirdly with economic scarcity because the things they want that we'd consider expensive ("robot parts full of ultra-advanced tech") seem to be relatively easy for them to come by, while the things we'd consider cheap ("music halls") make up a majority of their voluntary spending.
 
Spectrum said:
I somehow doubt everyone's actually experiencing the kind of post-scarcity environment a true statement of this would imply...
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It does seem kind of inconsistent with this exchange earlier:
open_sketch said:
"Can't imagine your father is too happy about it all." I said instead, and he gestured vaguely, taking a final bite from his apple.

"You got that right. Really hoping I fall into the lap of a beautiful woman with a lovely bank account sooner rather than later, because right now… how long was it to make Captain on our salary?"

"Discounting our mandatory expenses, nineteen years and two hundred and sixty-three days. Provided we save everything else." I said.

"Right, well, lemme just do a quick bit of my own math given my expenses… mhmm, carry the one… ah yes. I ought to make captain by the time I'm a brisk six hundred and a bit, I think." he said. "Can't wait."

"Wait, what? I thought human families, like, pooled money. Or something, I'm not clear on the details." I said, confused.

"It's called disinheritance, Fusie. He's a right prick, what can I say? I've got aunties I can probably call on for a few thousand pounds in a pinch, but I'd rather not bother the poor dears."

"Why didn't he just refuse to pay?" I asked, and he chucked.

"Oh, he did. My ensign's commission in the Guards was worth more than my lieutenant's commission here, and I had enough left over for my pistol, a small yacht, and a respectable liquor cabinet."

The sheer scale of money that humans dealt in casually never ceased to amaze me.
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It's not impossible Beckham would just have no money, given what he said about being disinherited, but it's also not totally consistent with the idea that people just casually get gifted industrial plants for their sweet sixteens, either.
 
So fun fact, the talk of Dora defecting to the USMC came up on the day before the USMC Birthday, which is today, 10th of November.
 
Squishy said:
It does seem kind of inconsistent with this exchange earlier:

It's not impossible Beckham would just have no money, given what he said about being disinherited, but it's also not totally consistent with the idea that people just casually get gifted industrial plants for their sweet sixteens, either.
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I think the disinheritance is the really critical thing. The society is so absurdly rich that it is relatively normal for people to be casually gifted industrial plants for their sweet sixteens... But a lot of the norms revolving around "so who owns this stuff anyway" seem to still be stuck in Regency Mode, so when the head of household disinherits a disgraceful child, of course they don't get any industrial plants of their own. At least for the time being.
Given that their dad's an asshole.
 
Simon_Jester said:
I think the disinheritance is the really critical thing. The society is so absurdly rich that it is relatively normal for people to be casually gifted industrial plants for their sweet sixteens... But a lot of the norms revolving around "so who owns this stuff anyway" seem to still be stuck in Regency Mode, so when the head of household disinherits a disgraceful child, of course they don't get any industrial plants of their own. At least for the time being.
Given that their dad's an asshole.
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On the other hand, the fact that there does not exist an impoverished class of the descendents from the disinherited, the unlucky, and those who lost their fortunes by their own hand, does suggest there's some compensating mechanism.

Maybe robots giving out some property deeds when dad isn't looking?
 
At a guess, there is enough land and productive assets open for the taking that getting back on the track to having more stuff is relatively easy.
 
10ebbor10 said:
On the other hand, the fact that there does not exist an impoverished class of the descendents from the disinherited, the unlucky, and those who lost their fortunes by their own hand, does suggest there's some compensating mechanism.
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Especially given the history of primogeniture, which Sumner indicates is still around, and which, historically, implies a constant downward churn of subsequent children, only occasionally compensated for by dowry marriage.
 
10ebbor10 said:
On the other hand, the fact that there does not exist an impoverished class of the descendents from the disinherited, the unlucky, and those who lost their fortunes by their own hand, does suggest there's some compensating mechanism.

Maybe robots giving out some property deeds when dad isn't looking?
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This is probably where the military comes in, from REMF postings as a supply officer to clerking at the war office. Or something more martial for the adventurous and the able.

It's not like there's much risk of them creating a cadre of dispossessed noble sons and daughters who'd sooner engage in mutiny and barratry and bring home the vendetta they've been nursing in their breasts at the head of their men.

The robots won't follow and they're probably being paid well enough anyway to not start shit. Why risk it all for a nice 5 bedroom cottage and a life of ease, if not absurd luxury, especially when you have servants who surreptitiously help you psychologically adjust for years afterwards?

There are also the old Regency fallbacks of going into the church or service to nobility, except because this is a society functionally run by benevolent machines for the betterment of people as opposed to one run by people for the betterment of a few people, those are probably rewarding and fulfilling compensatory options with a fair bit of societal and psychological support available.
 
Ithillid said:
At a guess, there is enough land and productive assets open for the taking that getting back on the track to having more stuff is relatively easy.
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The Polestar family of "Maid To Love You" apparently recently came into their asset base of solarbpower generation infrastructure about which they built the family money, so it would appear that the barriers to entry into the propertied class as a heavy business concern are lower than they might be in another society where everything is all sewn up.

This is probably helped by the fact that the Concert is tiny (something like a billion-ish humans), is expanding into a galaxy even richer than ours in available astronomical bodies for resource exploitation, has no real competition for that resource base, neither internal nor external, and is built on a superabundance of willing and incredibly efficient labour that wants to help you have a fantastically luxurious life and which will do most of the thinking and lifting for you (while allowing you to make decisions so you have agency).

The LGMs, conversely, probably have no means of easily getting of the ground and out of orbit, much less building safe and durable space borne infrastructure like Arcturus. They can't be and won't be in the way of the heavy industry, probably space based, which seems to generate most of this society's wealth.
 
One explanation could be that the robots don't like being part of a singular massive empire owned by a single person. If we assume that there's an optimal ratio of robots to humans, say 1:50 000, then industrial expansion would require the creation of new highly placed humans.

So, if rich-guy-mc-uberpatriarch wants to expand his industrial empire, he must find a suitable son/daughter-in-law (or a ward, or a business partner) to manage that new piece of the empire.
 
Squishy said:
Especially given the history of primogeniture, which Sumner indicates is still around, and which, historically, implies a constant downward churn of subsequent children, only occasionally compensated for by dowry marriage.
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I think you may be misinterpreting the relevant passage. Sumner said:

"I guess. My brother's set to inherit most of it, but I'm supposed to be involved too." she said, and I looked over to see her sitting back in her saddle, head lolled back from sheer exasperation. "The very thought of it bores me to death. Who even cares how much money we make, it's the 22nd century. Everyone's already got more money than they can spend, I don't see why we need any more."

Now, her brother's inheriting most of it, and maybe it's because he's older, but maybe it's instead because he's actually interested in spending the rest of his life doing Factorio LARPing on a random planet, whereas 'our' Sumner would rather do something else, like be an army officer. Given Sumner's expressed disinterest in the family business, there are many reasons her parents might already have decided NOT to groom her as primary heir... even if they're damn well going to ensure that she's got plenty of resources to draw on.

Claudette Savagely said:
This is probably where the military comes in, from REMF postings as a supply officer to clerking at the war office. Or something more martial for the adventurous and the able.
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Remember that the entire population of humans is 'gentry' at this point. I don't think there are that many military officers in the society. Certainly the humans over in Maid to Love You aren't mostly military.

I think it's just a case of technological productivity being so large that there's no primogeniture, there's plenty of inheritance for everyone.

Maybe disinheritance cases only occur in cases like Beckham's, where Beckham's dad is clearly an asshole, and frankly Beckham himself is kind of an asshole sometimes and may have kind of brought it on himself to some extent...

And even then, there's plenty of room for compensatory mechanisms to come into play.
 
10ebbor10 said:
We know that military pay is relatively shitty though. Not capable of putting people in the poorhouse, but certainly not "buying planet material".
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I assumed that "compensatory" here can be taken to mean "you're not destitute and are physically comfortable".

That probably doesn't put you back on the road to holiday planets right away, but at least in Beckham's case, would it have to?

He grouses and it's a point of personal difficulty but he also seems to be reasonably good at what he does and pretty enthusiastic about it. If he's ultimately fulfilled in his life and safe, he's probably meeting the checksums of the machines around him which are set to "human life good y/n".

Now what you do when you've got a lot of Beckhams is a different question, but there are a few answers to that which more or less boil down to, "functionally this society is operated by a benevolent conspiracy to make your life at least good and probably better than good", i.e. Machines doing things adroitly via the back door.

Probably not as direct as "here's some land" and probably not as intentional, but suspiciously effective all the same.

Everyone who needs it, and there probably aren't many to start with, gets to have a rags to riches story if they want to.

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"By Jove, Teddy, to think that just 10 years ago you and I were out on our ear in the dust of New Buenos Aires after Papa turfed us out, and now look! Me a special detached secretary to the Minister of Energy, and you head of your own house hold staff! What work we've done, eh? What luck!"

"Quite so, Master Archibald" says Teddy the old retired batman who's been pulling strings and arranging opportunities like a fiend every day for a decade so that young Master Archibald could get back on his feet and work his way back up, and has helped to make His Gentleman fully safe and secure once again.

"Quite so."
 
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10ebbor10 said:
Or join the French Foreign Legion
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… I don't think she's got anywhere near THAT degree of desperation ahead of her. For all that the various nations' soldiers appear to get along all right in-universe, well… I'll put it this way: in real life, in EVERY British TV show or movie I've ever seen, if the Devil — or any other generic antagonist meant to be equally unsympathetic — appears, they have a French accent. Bear in mind, this is _after_ more than a century of being neutral or outright allied nations, at least on paper. In this setting, the imperialist powers never really _stopped_.

samdamandias said:
(…) Once they get to about a thousand ten hundred base words (…)
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If you're trying to put that in the natives' terms, 1000 (ten cubed) in base 10 is 1750 (eight-and-two cubed = 12 * 144) in base 8.

By the same coincidence of nature that lets us misappropriate metric powers-of-1000 prefixes for certain of the power-of-two values convenient in working with base-2 computers, it just so happens that 2000 in the native system is 1024 in base 10. If our intrepid diplomats — well, out-of-her-depth infantrybot intent on functioning as diplautomat, & painfully earnest PFY aide-de-bâcle — should end up needing to describe their vocabulary requirements to their hosts, at least they probably already have a conveniently round number-word for the purpose.
 
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