It's from a Gallentean perspective. Cromeux Inc. are a Gallentean corporation, a division of Chemal Tech. Their only mentioned Amarrian scientist is Dr. Araham Keredin, who is described as an expert on mnemonic theories and psyche restoration (in other words he's more focused on the transfer process).
Also, Amarrian commoners are not stupid. They're quite well-educated. They don't need to be talked down to anymore than the average working or middle class person in any society. Can people please, please stop assuming Amarr is an anti-intellectual society just because it's religious, especially when the lore outright says they are highly educated? Hell, education is the main focus of the Ardishapur Family, who are the most religious.
A well educated populace is an unruly populace. We know that Amarrian society is slow and plodding, with a rigid and feudalistic hierarchy. We know that almost half the society are slaves, who are only given as much information as they need to know to perform their assigned jobs. Why should the commoner be well-educated if his lot in life is only to do as the holder tells him? What good does his/ her education do if they are restricted in their freedoms? Could he use this education to make fertilizer bombs?
I don't believe that the Amarrians are anti-intellectual simply because they are religious. However, religion certainly does provide an efficient and available means for intellectual oppression and thought control.
It offers a ready made 'appeal to authority' argument which becomes the final word in any matter. Why am I a slave? 'God said so!' Perhaps this does not apply to ALL religion, but it most certainly does apply to a religion that considers slavery as one of it's main tenets.
Education and religion are not diametrically opposed. It has been the church which has carried the torch of knowledge throughout history, after all. The first Universities were created in order to educate the clergy. However, this is indoctrination as much as it is education. Ideas which were contrary to the teachings of the Bible have been hotly contested for millennia. By 'hotly contested', I mean torture, execution, prison, exile, etc.
Often enough, the only 'proof' that religion needs is that the only acceptable answers were already written down in a book which can never, ever be questioned. 'Free thinking' is actively discouraged, especially in a theocratic Police state.
Also, unlike the Bible, the Amarrian sacred writings are an entire library which is off limits to the public, accessible only to specialists. It's not a society where information is disseminated freely. So, not only can you not question the writings of the sacred literature, you
aren't even allowed to read it for yourself. After all, knowledge is power.
If you want to maintain the order of Garrulock ruling the skies, Frisceas ruling the seas, Emperor ruling over holder, Holder over commoner, and commoner over slave, then why would you encourage an agricultural slave or a destitute commoner to try and better themselves through presumably free of charge state education?
I can imagine something like the Civil servants exams of Ancient China, where officials went from province to province to give intelligence tests to the commoners and determine who is most suited for civil service. A child protege of a slave might be tested and sent for special education if they were early bloomers in mathematics or music, but I think that education would be highly specialized and technical. A musician that can read and perform music but not reading or writing, or a scientist that understands chemistry, but has no knowledge of literature.
Consider the Ancient Roman schools for the free, and the schools they had for the slaves. The way they taught the free was the seven liberal arts. Liberal is a latin word, meaning 'Of Freedom'. The seven liberal arts were grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. This was known as the trivium and the quadrivium.
The slaves were given a different kind of education, called the servile method. The slaves were taught just enough grammar to understand instructions, and just enough arithmetic to add up a grocery bill. Logic, rhetoric, etc. were considered too dangerous to teach to slaves. They were conditioned to sit still, facing the front of the room, keep quiet, and follow the directions of the instructor. They were assigned tasks to complete, the quality of their work was assessed, and they moved from room to room at the sound of a gong or bell.
Sound familiar? The
Servus method is the one that is being used in High schools today. 'Liberal' has now come to mean something else, and furthermore, it has become a dirty word.
In the modern era, it was first introduced in Germany in 1888, where it was called the 'Schule' method. It started in the United States in 1908 when John D. Rockefeller said that he didn't want a society of poets, writers, thinkers and musicians, but a society of obedient, efficient workers. It is a form of education designed not to make people
think, but to trust authority and follow orders without question.
I'd prefer actual cloning, just accelerated, rather than this idea. It seems to me like grimdark for the sake of grimdark. And Amarr really really doesn't need more of that, it's got enough dark spots already.
Actual cloning, at an accelerated rate of growth, is good enough for me as well. I can just ignore the biomass/ animal & human parts portion of it.
'Grimdark for the sake of grimdark' is how I consider the idea of using human corpses to make new clones.
You probably meant my explanation, but it was nothing more than a rationalization of the already abhorrent practice of institutionalized slavery. There needs to be some mental gymnastics involved to convince yourself and others that another human being is somehow inherently inferior enough to make their slavery justified.
Romans farmers would refer to their 'articulate' and 'inarticulate' animals, or in other words, the two legged talking animals with opposable thumbs, and the four legged, non talking kind. When a slave was released in Rome, they were said to have 'found their nature', i.e. woke up and suddenly realized they were human after all.
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Topic: Strange question... (Read 9456 times)