Thoughts on Democracy

 As someone who lives and breathes sci-fi, I spend a lot of time thinking about political theory; how would you run a Galactic Empire? What would a utopian Federation actually look like? How would you explain democracy to someone from, say, Westeros, or Katolis, or Pharaonic Egypt, or Sengoku-era Japan? I think I've come to realize something about democracy.

Democracy is like a table, built to stand on four legs: Education, a Free Media, Infrastructure, and the Rule of Law. Without one of those legs, the table wobbles. Without two, it will collapse.

Type 7 Societies

A Type-7 society will have access to planetary orbit, and a robust and largely unrestricted planetary data network, but will also be dealing with resource shortages and environmental collapse.

This civilization will likely have a semi-permanent space station in orbit. (picture by NASA)

Type 6 Societies

Wealth and prosperity signal an Age of Discovery and an Industrial Revolution, permanently transforming this society, and eventually ushering in the Atomic Age and the dawn of space exploration. Space will become the Final Frontier --the only remaining way for this civilization to expand.

The Industrial revolution and its underlying philosophy (that things of a type should be identical and interchangeable) will influence society from here onward. (picture from Getty Images)

Type 5 Societies

Type-5 societies tend to be unstable: while the leader of a Type-4 civilization can exert direct authority over an entire kingdom, the Type-5 society has grown too large and widespread. The ruler must now rely on territorial lords and administrators, who will have ample opportunity to act in secret.

The Roman Senate was the true power in this Type-5 society. (HBO's Rome, 2005)

Type 4 Societies

Early Type-4 societies face dangers from climate (a single bad drought/flood/harvest can starve the growing population), plague (dense populations, often with limited hygiene, and frequent new arrivals due to trade), and war (larger populations allow for the growth of armies, and will also strain resources). The high mortality rate (due to wars and plague) will push society toward large families, in the hope that at least some children will grow to old age. The dangers of plague and war will only add to this society's xenophobia --shunning outsiders is a valuable survival strategy.

A typical Iron-age city. (image from Ancient Architecture)

Measuring Societal Levels

I've been looking for a system of classifying different societies. This ended up being a lens through which I (and hopefully others) can examine other science fiction, discuss actual real-world history, and maybe even a tool for other writers wanting to correct/rationalize/subvert some of the tropes that tend to creep into sci-fi (like single-industry planets, alien bazaars, casual space-travel, the cyberpunk/space-opera divide, etc).

The Kardashev Scale is so vague as to be useless and doesn't really scale down (without needing multiple decimal places), and the Three Age system doesn't really scale up. Neither of them gives a handy way to know just what goes on in any of the societies they "describe," or what kind of challenges each society might face.