BY LETTER
Pure Joy
"Pure Joy" is a sub-memeset found in the Laughter Hegemony, which is somewhat in low-grade rebellion against the overarching memeset. For contrast, the Laughter Hegemony states that beings gain their skills, implants, and power based on their awarded karma. Those who follow Pure Joy, however, note that the results of a given action or set of actions are often not checked over a long enough baseline. Therefore, short-term beneficial actions may be awarded, and the sophont in question may garner significant benefits, before the long term repercussions come home to roost.
The more thoughtful of the mainstream Laughter Hegemony have noted this, and have made several significant improvements in their systems of rewards to better handle this kind of problem, yet the Pure Joy personnel appear to be unswayed from their position. The Pure Joy movement members appear to wish that certain general enhancements be performed for all members of the society - specifically communications and longevity-protecting enhancements. This is justified as being required to properly attribute earned karma over any reasonable timescale. However, the Pure Joy members are quick to point out that this does not fully address the issues of negative karma coming to rest on dissolute/nonexistent members of the polity over extensive periods of time...
The more thoughtful of the mainstream Laughter Hegemony have noted this, and have made several significant improvements in their systems of rewards to better handle this kind of problem, yet the Pure Joy personnel appear to be unswayed from their position. The Pure Joy movement members appear to wish that certain general enhancements be performed for all members of the society - specifically communications and longevity-protecting enhancements. This is justified as being required to properly attribute earned karma over any reasonable timescale. However, the Pure Joy members are quick to point out that this does not fully address the issues of negative karma coming to rest on dissolute/nonexistent members of the polity over extensive periods of time...
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Development Notes
Text by John B
Initially published on 12 July 2003.
Initially published on 12 July 2003.
