It was a cold, rational world. Both the planet and the people were, by 20th Century Earth standards, cold. The planet itself was just about .9 astronomical units from its yellow dwarf star. It was much like earth in that it had green plants and an atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen. You could breathe the air, even though it was always cold, even near the equator. There was enough fresh water in lakes and rivers near the equator, and there was lots of ice above and below the equator in what would on Earth have been the temperate zones. The planet rotated on its axis once every 27 hours, and orbited the star every 299 days. The humans called it Greenworld – much as the Vikings had called a frozen northern land "Greenland" in an effort to induce others to come to the place.
All of the humans, all million and a half of them, lived within 100 kilometers of the equator. It was too cold to be habitable without very specialized equipment outside of the tropics. The planet had been colonized in 2896 AD by a group of humans who came directly from earth. There were five or six dozen small towns of 10,000 or less, but most of the people lived in small villages near their farms. Earth crops, including vegetables and fruits could be grown if the farmer took care to pollinate them. Flying nanomachines were the popular choice for pollination. There were no native vertebrate animals, but there were lots of arthropod-like creatures. Humans could not digest the native fauna, but terrestrial chickens and fish had been reconstructed from genetic material brought along on the colony ships. Most folks in rural areas had a chicken coop. Fish were farmed in aquacultural plants near the cities.
The humans divided time according to a decimal system. Each day was divided into 10 units called decdays. A decday was equal to approximately 160 old Earth minutes. Each decday was divided into 100 millidays, each equal to just under 100 seconds on old Earth. 10 days were a decad. 10 decad were a kiloday. There were three kilodays to a year, minus one day. Since there were no seasons, no months were needed. The days of the decads were simply numbered firstday, secondday, etc. Each tenthday was a day of rest and play. It was on this day that the meetings of the society of Pragmatists took place. The decads were also numbered from one to 30 each year, with the nine days of the 30th decad being a holiday time on the planet. Dates were calculated from the day of planetfall. Thus, what would have been the year 3050 on Earth would be approximately 188 post planetfall on Greenworld. The first day of the first decad of that year would be noted as 1-1-188 pp, with the first digit being the day, the second digit being the decad and the third number being the year post planetfall.
The closest thing to religion on Greenworld is the Association of Pragmatists. The Association of Pragmatists met once every tenthday in the public meeting halls in every town. The mornings were devoted to meetings where certified pragmatists provided guidance and assistance to citizens in their efforts to achieve a truly logical existence. These certified pragmatists were the closest things the inhabitants of Greenworld had to a clergy, and even they practiced their calling on a part time basis. They all had day jobs. The afternoons of each tenthday were devoted to play and fun.
The goal of pragmatism was to achieve an existence in which emotion was but one part of the felicific calculus. All decisions, from the mundane what to eat and what to wear to major life decisions such as what a person’s life work will be, were to be made in a pragmatic way. All policy decisions were to be "Pareto Optimal" – at least one person was to be made better off, and no one was to be hurt. Thus, all decisions, great and small, were made with some sort of cost-benefit calculation in mind.
The "worship" services were very much like a class in a business school on old earth. Case studies were put to the congregation, and analyzed via the Socratic method. In each case study, the temptation to behave in an impulsive or non-rational manner was great, yet could be overcome if the person were to stop and apply the guiding principles of Pragmatism. These principles were: 1) think before you act; 2) consider all options; 3) consider the consequences of each option; and, 4) beware of emotion – it clouds the judgment.
It should be noted that, since toleration of diversity was considered rational, that not everyone was a member of the Association of Pragmatists. There were a few who were contemptuously called "spiritualists." These included several thousand scattered theists belonging to the old earth Judeo-Christian religions. In addition, there were a few tens of thousands of "soul minders." Their chief belief was that human existence meant more than merely making practical decisions. They believed that there was a spiritual "essence" that made humans different from the "lower" beasts. Human emotion was a product of this essence, and, therefore to be revered. Soul Minder worship practices were intended to elicit strong emotions, including, sometimes, sexual lust. As a consequence, their worship services were highly alluring to the younger citizens of Greenworld. Needless to say, so long as the belief system encouraged sexuality, this religion would always maintain a following on the planet, despite condemnation from the government as a "non-rational" believe system.
The people governed themselves in a manner something like that envisioned by Thomas Jefferson on old Earth in the United States. By and large, the population regarded government as a necessary inconvenience. It was not of great import, but it was important enough to pay attention when a big decision was to be made. The rest of the time, the technocrats were to be trusted. Most problems were handled locally, by town meetings. The few towns of over 500 people were run by a city council, chosen from among the population. There was a World Congress consisting of 100 representatives, elected from single member districts. A committee of five members of this Congress functioned as an executive body. 500 or so professional bureaucrats actually ran the day-to-day affairs of the central government.
The day-to-day lives of the Greenworlders were governed by the search for a logical and rational existence. The version of logic was a combination of communitarianism and utilitarianism. Individuals did not seek wealth or fame so much as they sought to make a good place to live and work. Greed and religion were seen as major contributors to the problems that plagued old Earth and ultimately rendered it a difficult place to live. Thus, no one sought to become wealthy and no one sought to take advantage of others.
The system for distributing goods and services was a loose, self enforcing type of barter system. There was no need for money since anyone who could demonstrate a pressing need would likely have that need met by the local government. People who had excess goods let it be known that they had them, and they let it be known what they needed and did not have. Exchanges were made, but with no insistence on equal exchanges. No one was rich, and conspicuous consumption was regarded very negatively. If anything essential was in short supply, the technocrats would ask citizens to increase production of that good or service. If a significant reallocation of resources was required, that was a matter for the elected bodies in the areas affected. Deviance from these norms was quickly enforced. Deviant individuals, once labeled as such, would be shunned and would likely need to move to another place and start a new life. Violent individuals were confined in prisons until their violent tendencies were deemed at an end. Recidivists were treated as mentally ill. A person who was sane would not engage in violence.
The basic social unit was the family, but the definition of family was left up to the adult individuals in the family unit. Thus, while the norm was for monogamous, heterosexual couples and their offspring, homosexuality was not unknown, and communal marriages were also tolerated. Sexuality was treated as part of normal, adult life, but exploitation of those under the age of consent (which was set at 18) was labeled as deviant on the assumption that a minor was incapable of making a rational decision in such matters.
Entertainment on the planet came from the family and community. There were video feeds and stored multi-media presentations from old Earth, and some enjoyed watching these things, but most entertainment came from members of the family playing together, or from local theater, art, sports or music. Simply sitting and passively watching a multimedia presentation (they called them multivids), was considered as wasteful of time and energy. Children were trained in the fine arts as well as in math and science. Virtually everyone on the planet could play music, create images, or write fiction.
The energy supply of the planet came from geothermal sources. The planet was still alive geologically, although volcanoes and quakes were not common along the equator. Each dwelling unit had a pipe drilled into the ground. Once you got down about 10 kilometers, there was sufficient heat to make steam for generation of electricity and to heat homes against the Greenworld chill.