Old Earth’s society is based on the Construct and the Paradigms of Power, which are their laws. The Construct says, “Because society is based on trust, trust cannot be withheld on unfounded suspicion. Threats are a form of mistrust; so are unprovoked violence, use of physical force, and manipulation of another.” The basis of the Paradigms of Power is that “Society is based on morality. Morality rests on consensus and requires the use of power to remove those who will not accept that consensus.” The consensus is based on honesty and trust and in order to maintain the consensus, those who are dishonest get thrown out of society. They believe that “Survival means acceptance of a desired moral structure and the use of some sort of force to maintain …show more content…
The society is divided into locials and regions that all have consensus representatives. They make up the consensus committee who makes the decisions. However, if Old Earth is faced with a threat or a crisis they appoint a Coordinator, who is then in charge. “It’s not the sort of position anyone seeks – and anyone who did would be suspect.” Since another principle from the Paradigms of Power is that power attracts the corruptible, a person wanting to be Coordinator would be seen as corruptible and therefore a threat to …show more content…
They also want to keep peace unlike the Vereal union who believes in revenge and thinks that physical power is the most important thing. The societies respective laws reflect this very clearly. The laws on Old Earth focuses on keeping peace and maintaining the consensus, by requiring morality and condemning mistrust. The laws of the Vereal union aren’t as clear in the book, however it’s clear that they follow some kind of military structure. Their society is very hierarchical and the decisions are made only in the top of the hierarchy, unlike Old Earth where a consensus committee consisting of representatives from the locials and regions makes the decisions. However, the Old Earth society is more like the Vereal Union in times of crisis when they appoint a