"Tom Purdom-Research Project" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

and downloading material from public databases. She already knows, for example, that the sexual
division of labor in Postri-Dem's culture-segment conformed to the standard division of labor in most ifli
cultures. Ifli females tended to be politicians and administrators. Ifli males tended to be engineers and
designers. Like most of the people who encounter that fact, she has wondered if the UN selection
committee made a lucky guess when it sent a female diplomat and a male exobiologist to Mars. It didn't,
but there seems to be a general agreement that the sexual composition of the human delegation may have
influenced the Chosen Presider's decision to open discussions.
***


This was only the third time we had discussed intraspecies competition. It was obviously a delicate
subject. I was still selecting my words with great care.
"Actually," I said, "I don't see why we can't go on discussing the story of Gutara and Estrihar. I think it
raises important questions about the way our different species compete. As I understand the story --
Gutara's city was erecting that bridge because of a rivalry with another city. They were creating a trade
route to compete with a city that had already built a bridge over the same river."
"Trade isn't quite the correct word," Postri-Dem said. "The stream of information and certain kinds
of... social intercourse... was just as important. But you've presented an accurate summary of the
situation, other than that."
"But that brings up a question we can't seem to get away from. Didn't they at any time consider the
possibility they might take possession of the other city's bridge? By engaging in violence?"
Postri-Dem waved his hands and engaged in another attempt to simulate a human shrug.
"I can only tell you what I've said before, Doctor Mazzeri. We do not seem to think of such things. If
we do -- there is no tradition that tells us how to go about it. You have specialists in violence.
Techniques. We usually resolve conflicts by moving. If that isn't practical... there are places on our Home
world where you'll see six bridges built within steps of each other."
He popped another pair of brown spheres into his mouth. From the way he described it to me, the
spheres coated the cells of his tongue and cheeks with a flake-speckled cream that created a sensation
comparable to the feeling we humans get when we eat something sweet.
"I think it's clear we are less violent by nature," Postri-Dem said. "As I've said before, we do engage in
brawls and riots. But they tend to be disorganized short-term events by your standards. Even when we
dealt with predators -- even then, we relied on defensive structures. On walls. On water barriers. And
ultimately, of course, on the modification of the predator's habitat that accompanies technological
development. As your species is doing."
He paused and crunched his way through two more spheres while he arranged the phrases he had
constructed the evening before. "I should tell you, however, that there have been occasions when
members of our species used environmental modification as a competitive technique. The fact that we
didn't institutionalize that kind of competition seems to support the idea that you can't institutionalize some
things unless you are more naturally violent to begin with. Your species apparently developed organized
violent competition shortly after you developed agriculture and started living in large scale social units.
We didn't. But the fact that we've accumulated a few famous examples of aggressive environmental
modification indicates the potential may be there."
"Very good, Habut," Stridi-If said in their language. "You took your time but you couldn't have done a
better job if I'd written the script for you. You've planted the idea but you haven't over-emphasized it."
Maria's voice broke in on our private communications circuit. "I think we'd better talk, Orly. This
might be a good place to put in another word about the Titanic."
I started to object and then shrugged. Postri-Dem told me to take all the time I needed and we
blanked the screens on our links and broke the audio connection.
"They're probably thinking about some way they can bring up the Water Project," Stridi-If said. "That
was perfect, Habut. Just be careful what you say if they want to talk about the Water Project. We have