World Sketch of New Euro
time: 3025 Christian Era.
The planet called New Euro was colonized from the European Union in 2305 by a group of engineers, scientists and technocrats seeking to establish a more “rational” society. That was 700 years ago. While the planet was fairly hospitable to humans, significant problems arose because of the rapid deterioration of any organic building materials available on the planet. While there are large plants the size of trees on earth, there is no usable wood. Since there have never been any animal life that fix silica into shells, such as bivalves on old Earth did, there are no usable concentrations of limestone or silicate materials to use as cement. Without cellulose materials or concrete, the construction of buildings involved significant engineering problems. Those who could solve those problems became the leaders of society.
The form of Government:
A Constitution specifies a parliamentary system, along the lines of the
nations of 20th Century
The criteria for fitness for rule include engineering prowess more than anything else. Frequently the future prime minister comes from the ranks of the scientific advisors to the current government. All Prime ministers since the fourth one (2368-2390) have been engineers. There is something of a class system in that those whose families were among the first colonists have greater access to educational opportunities and positions of power and trust in government.
Elections are held, but offer little real choice since there is only one political party. Candidates for the ballot are selected in a caucus system from which there is little deviation from party discipline. There is no free press – all information is filtered through the government. The special interests (the engineering and construction firms) dominate the main political party. As such, they also control much of the wealth of the planet.
There are few criminals, and those who are found to be deviant are handled in a “humane” fashion by being re-educated using the principles of behavior modification (derived from the ideas of the 20th century psychologist B. F. Skinner). If this process fails, incarceration results – but the planet’s prison only hold 50 people and it is never full. The criminal process is not adversarial – it is administrative in nature.
There are civil courts, but they function mainly as mediators and arbitrators to the disputes over contracts that may arise. Few of these conflicts arise as there is a culture that values problem solving over litigation. There is a substantial private mediation industry.
As you might suspect, there is a large technocrat class – of the 2,000,000 adult inhabitants, over 300,000 work for the government. The bureaucracy is characterized by a fairly rigid hierarchy and a rather inflexible and punitive personnel system.
The economic system is basically a capitalist one, with the normal variations on the pure competitive model that comes with a strong central government. Market behaviors that are perceived as anti-government by the Prime Minister are commonly regulated. For example, copyrights and patents (especially patents) are well protected, although speculation in equities markets is not encouraged when a new technological breakthrough is made. Thus, stock brokers are quite limited in how initial public offerings are handled.
The government’s emphasis is on increasing productivity, most often through automation of production. Very few of the inhabitants are involved in farming but the operations that exist are quite large and rely heavily on equipment and chemicals. There is a major synthetic food industry and a major hydroponics industry as well.
Plastics aren’t big because there aren’t many hydrocarbons, but ceramics are a huge part of the economy. As expected, the highest paid workers in the economy are the engineers who have managed to solve problems related to the construction industry. Second are the hardware and software engineers. Human service workers are paid the least.
Women and men participate in the economy on roughly equal terms – although women do seem to bear a greater share of the burden of child care. The government does provide excellent child care facilities and these are subsidized generously. Child birth is regarded as a time for celebration and both fathers and mothers get significant time off after the birth of a child. Similarly, if a family member is ill, time off to deal with the illness is allowed. The real problem, given the somewhat workaholic tendencies of the inhabitants, is to get the workers to take enough time off.
Women are regarded as the intellectual equals of men – there is little gender prejudice outside of the few fundamentalist faiths that still exist. What counts is your ability to solve key problems. If you know how to build something, you get respect. If you know how to solve a persistent technical problem, you get respect. If you aren’t interested in technical problems, you are marginalized. Artists are supposed to engage in their art for its own sake, as a hobby done after the required work is completed. No one is able to make a living as a fulltime artist, decorator, or musician.
Marriages are freely arranged be the participants themselves, and non-marital cohabitation is openly practiced. Homosexuality is disfavored because of the need for the relatively new colony to grow. Divorce is fairly common and easily attainable. The courts are very strict about child custody and support arrangements, with mandatory mediation of all such disputes.
In New Euro, social interaction is characterized by a wish to avoid conflict. While one may disagree with what another person is saying, one is polite and does not say anything openly conflictual. 21st Century Earth communication theories might call the New Euroans direct or linear communicators. Ideas are presented in an open way, but without the emotional context that might cause conflict. Anger is never to be openly displayed. To be called “irrational” is a serious insult, but there are no “fighting words” among adults, not matter how deadly the insult. A more mild insult is to say that someone “can’t find the first derivative of X2.”
Alcohol and drug consumption is not favored. While alcohol is available in the form of beer and spirits, wine is not because grapes won’t grow on the planet. Anyone who overindulges will be severely castigated the next day for it, and continued alcohol abuse will get you re-educated by the government.
Food on the planet is sufficient, but not as varied as one might hope. Grains will grow, so grain sugar is available, and the locals love candy. Chocolate is not available (the plants won’t grow), but a synthetic chocolate flavor chemical is widely enjoyed. Chemical engineers have the capacity to make all sorts of flavor enhancers, but would rather do other things with their time. Most holidays do not involve feasts, except that candy is always present at any holiday.
Mass entertainment media are available, but not used as much as was the case on old Earth. Yes, there are documentaries on 3-dimensional holographic video projections systems, but nothing like the old situation comedies or television dramas of 21st century Earth. There is music on the radio sound receivers, but little that openly expresses open dissent or dissatisfaction with the status quo, such as was the case with popular music in the 20th century on old Earth. Classical music from old Earth, especially Mozart, is really popular, as is instrumental jazz. Given that the government openly censors such broadcasts, this is hardly surprising.
The people do like sports. A variation on soccer is popular and track and field events are well attended. Contact sports, such as American football, ice hockey, or basketball are not available.
The original founders of New Euro came from very secular
societies in the Western European nations of old Earth. Their quest for a more rational society
included considerable opposition to organized religion. Their opposition to religion was fueled, in
part by a disdain for the decadent, but still wealthy society in
The members of the political opposition, and there weren’t very many of these, were much more likely to embrace what would be called liberal versions of old Earth religions. There were a few Universalists who believed that the universe was vaguely linked by a common spiritual presence. Each Galaxy was considered to be something of an entity made up of mostly inanimate matter. Sentient beings, and the Universalists believed in the existence of other sentient beings in the galaxy, could, through prayer and meditation, link to this spirit. Universalists believed in direct democracy which they were able to get in a fashion through town meetings in smaller towns. Of course, they were opposed to the favored status of original colonial families and the political system that was dominated by engineers. They also were ardent environmentalists, which was typically a key point of political contention between them and the prime minister.
There were a few religious fundamentalists on the planet. While religious freedom of belief and practice was protected by law, spiritualism was regarded as a haven for the weak minded. A famous quote from Albert Turing, one of the more widely liked Prime Ministers, was, “Rational people have no need for juvenile ghost stories about gods.” These fundamentalists met in each other’s homes as there were rarely enough of them in one place to afford a separate church building. These fundamentalists, including a few followers of Islam (there was a small mosque in the capital city) were regarded mostly as nuisances by the government, and being known as a fundamentalist made entry into university or the bureaucracy very difficult.