“Why do people follow leaders?” Pernak replied. “For collective-strength. What do you need collective strength for? Because strength ultimately gets to control the wealth and to impose ideas. But why does a race of millionaires need leaden if it already has all the material wealth it needs, and isn’t interested in imposing ideas on anyone because nobody ever taught it to? The Chironians don’t. There isn’t anything to scare them with. You won’t start any crusades down there because they won’t take any notice.”
Lechat thought for a while as he continued to eat. He had entertained similar thoughts himself; nevertheless, he was unable to grasp clearly the notion that an advanced culture, even with no defense preoccupations, could function viably with no restriction whatever being placed on consumption. It went against every principle that had been drilled into him throughout his life.
Even as he thought that, Eve’s words about brainwashing came back to him. Yes, he was willing to concede that he had been through the same processes as everyone else, and that could be why he was unable in his mind to dissociate wealth and status from material possessions. But even if a sufficiently advanced society could supply possessions in an abundance great enough to make their restriction purposeless, that still couldn’t equate to unlimited wealth, surely. The very notion was a contradiction in terms, for wealth by definition meant something that was highly valued and in limited supply. In other words, if on Chiron possessions did not equate to wealth and thereby satisfy the universal human hunger to be judged a success, then what did?
“I can see your point to a degree,” Pernak said eventually. “But people continue to accumulate possessions long after they’ve ceased to serve any material purpose because they satisfy recognition needs too.”
“That’s so true,” Eve agreed.
Lechat looked puzzled. “That’s my point–how do the Chironians satisfy them?”
“You’ve already said it,” Eve told him. She studied the expression on his face for a few seconds and then smiled. “You can’t see it yet, can you, Paul?”
Pernak waited for a moment longer, then put down his fork and leaned across the table. “On Chiron, wealth is competence!” he said. “Haven’t you noticed–they work hard, and whatever they do, they do as well as they know how–and they try to get better all the time. It doesn’t matter so much what they do as long as it’s good. And everybody appreciates it. That’s their currency–recognition, as you said . . . recognition of competence.” He shrugged and spread his hands. “And it makes a lot of sense. You just told us that’s what everyone wants anyway. Well, Chironians pay it direct instead of indirectly through symbols. Why make life complicated?”
The suggestion was too extraordinary for Lechat to respond instantly. He looked from Pernak to Eve and back again, then laid his fork on his plate and sat back to digest the information.
“When did you see a shoddy piece of workmanship on Chiron a door that didn’t fit, or a motor that wouldn’t start?” Eve asked him. “Have you ever come across anything like that anywhere there? It makes what we’re used to look like junk. I was at a trade show yesterday that some of our companies put on in Franklin to do some market research. The Chironians thought it was a joke. You should have seen the kids down there. They thought our ideas of design and manufacturing were hilarious. Our guys had to give it up as a dead loss.”
“That’s how they get rich,” Pernak said. “By being good at what they do and getting better. Who but a crazy would do anything and stay poor by choice?”
“You mean by reputation, or something like that?” Lechat asked, beginning to look intrigued.
“That’s part of it,” Pernak replied, nodding. “The satisfaction that their culture conditions them to feel is another part, but you’re getting the general idea.”
Lechat picked up his fork again. “I never looked at it in quite that way. It’s an interesting thought.” He began eating again, then stopped and looked up. “I suppose that was how the first generation of them sought to gain individual recognition at the beginning … when machines did all the work and our traditional ideas of wealth had no meaning. And it’s become embedded in their basic thinking.” He nodded slowly to himself and reflected further. “A completely different kind of conditioning, absorbed from the earliest years… based on recognizing individual attributes. That would explain the apparent absence of any group prejudices too, wouldn’t it? They’ve never had any reason to feel threatened by other groups.”