boraxman wrote to bithaven <=-
Its a great book, thoroughly recommend. The contrast between humans
and Moties, and the philosophical implications of how the Moties have evolved and run into dead ends repeatedly is quite interesting.
Science fiction is a great vehicle for providing social commentary by
contrasting humanity to other civilizations. There's a series of books
by Robert Sawyer, starting with Hominids. It's about a crossover
between universes where Neanderthals became the dominant species. Man
and Neanderthal get a chance to travel between universes.
Their civilization is hunter/gatherer, not agrarian - so families
stayed small and generations were pushed out to find their own hunting
territory. Overall population was a fraction of our world as a result,
the family unit was communal, and the tricky bit - they didn't believe
in an afterlife, so who you were and how you were rewarded was based on
your behavior in this world. Surveillance was everywhere, and people
basically carried body cams. They had a hard time understanding people
who acted immorally in the name of religion with the premise that there
was an afterlife where you'd be rewarded.
The Moties, are in some way, a victim and a slave of their own evolutionary process, something that does apply to us as well.
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