Sirius Society

Life in the Sirius Socialist Republic
(Thanks to Jurrien DeJong for this)

Socialism

The SSR is a socialist society. Generally, the populace supports this, as the government succeeds in providing parttime jobs. Working hours are light as much manual and boring work is done by robots. The success of Socialism in providing all its people with a reasonable living (although average standards of living are lower than in most other star systems) is the main legitimacy of the system. Abject poverty and embarrasing wealth are lacking. Not all who are born in the SSR systems can resist the promises of wealth and luxury however, and so there's a steady migration to other polities.

Bureaucracy

To ensure that all goes well the Sirians have developed a huge bureaucracy. Actually, most humans work in the civil service, as manual labour is for robots. Conforming fully to the law of .. every new project leads to the installation of a new committee, whch leads to many battles of competence with other departments and committees. It is hard to get hold of Sirians while working as they are mostly In A Meeting (IAM). If not, they're writing reports and memoes. As most humans outside the civil service are involved in management bureaucracy has also invaded the workfloor.

'IAM therefore I am'

Planned economy

As seen above, most Sirians do not actually produce, but 'manage'. Robots do most of the actual work, humans are IAM. They decide on many important things, like production levels, workload and annual paperclip allowances. The SSR are largely self-sufficient and much of its trade is between the different quadrants. Exports are important for interstellar currencies to pay for imports. Sirian planners have noted that they do not always get their predictions of demand right and tend to produce more than needed. The economy is therefore not very sufficient. Industries are not very profitable, although there is nothing much lacking, except for luxury goods.

Colonies

Colonies are planned as much as everything. People are selected by the Colonial Bureau, then shipped of to their destinations. Resources etc. are determined by the Colonial Executive Board and are generally abundant. Lots over unused stuff can be found in stores on all colony worlds.

Robots in SSR society

Sirian society is renowned for its relatively tolerant attitudes towards robots. In no other society is the appreciation for the possibilities of automated labour and artificial intelligence so widespread. That appreciation is looked at with some suspicion by other societies, but the Sirians, trusting in the application of technology to improve the workers' lot, tend to make light of the objections and take a more optimistic approach to the risks.

Robots are a full part of Sirian society. Their presence is universal: in homes, factories, offices and on the street.
The application of robot labour in factories is their principal contribution to the Sirian economy. It has allowed the Sirian worker to enjoy his well earned rest and holidays. The 8 hour working day can be celebrated in relative wealth because the tireless robot takes the place of his human comrades in the other shifts. They have kept far away the horrors of slave labour, pervasive in other parts of the humiverse. In other polities child labour and debt slavery is common, but in the SSR, children enjoy free education.

The extent of automated labour leads to constant confusion in labour productivity statistics. While Sirian economic growth records generally tend to lag behind those of capitalist polities, the actual human labour productivity per hour in Sirian factories is the highest in the Humiverse. What tends to obscure this remarkable feat is the inclusion of robots as labour units and the relatively large managerial component. Although the Sirian society is still predominantly a workers' society, the number of managers is higher than anywhere else and not quite as productive. The Sirian Communist Party has recently responded to the challenge by establishing Productivity Increase Advisory Boards in every production unit, to identify causes of low productivity and make recommendations for improvement.

Nowhere is the relationship between robot and humans closer than in the home. The Dombot is the focal point of family life, not only tidying up, cooking and doing the shopping, but also providing education and comic relief to the children, keeping the family's diaries and photo albums and organising excursions. The amount of work the combined dombots put into the Block Barbecues is just a sign of the pride they take in their role as backbone of the family. Research by the Sirian Institute of Domestic Technology has indicated that the low level of divorces in the SSR can be attributed to their splendid work.
Unlike the sturdy worker robots, the dombot is generally a crude android. Dependent on household composition it is equipped with educational, domestic or social pods. The purchase of new pods is one of the main consumer markets in the SSR. Fashions in character pods come and go, very much like the interchangeable fronts of mobile telephones (see archeology) at the turn of the 21st Century. The dombot is named by the family members on purchase (which involves a christening ceremony that can be traced back to the 25th century). The robots are often named with great care but are often easily recognisable: like Napoleon or Nanny, while James and Jeeves are also popular. Being a full member of the family, the dombot tends to acquire the role of family memory and will often recount stories of long dead ancestors.

The more advanced the CPUs of the robots become, the more advanced will be their emotional pods and android exterior. The SCC has established a standard of reality in their designs that surpasses those of all competition and new models are released on a regular basis. The commercial models are already pretty hard to distinguish from humans. Some have even risen to distinguished careers in sports, arts and science. These advanced bright slave types are allowed their own surnames. The export of advanced 'female' androids, especially to miner communities and patriarchal societies, has become a major source of foreign currency for the SSR. The replacement of human prostitutes by androids has rid the SSR of a great social evil and has been repeatedly celebrated by the Red Women's Emancipation Congress.

However, the costs of manufacture of these androids are high in comparison to its results and mostly it is cheaper to let a human do the work, especially in high risk missions where the robot may be damaged. The programming of human behaviour requires very complex stochastic subroutines and great skill at the reproduction of the human body. This brand of manufacturing might therefore be compared to race car driving at the end of the 20th century. It is a platform for companies to show their technological capacity and generate publicity. They build robots of very high quality (ie close resemblance to human behaviour) and character uniqueness. The Sirian government and quadrant authorities are their main customers, but quite a few are exported. The robots are used for intelligence surveillance operations .... Krapp Steel is one of several such companies in the SSR. Krapp Steel is a semi-state owned factory of special purpose android robots which holds the motto: "Centuries of Commitment to Craft".

Some of the most famous androids come from the Steel 'family'. These robots are often christened by alphabet (Andrew, Bernard, Carry), with submodels receiving double names (Andrew Alexander, Andrew Bernard).

Robots are also widely used in the armed forces. Although robots have become closely integrated into the Sirian Revolutionary Armed Forces and have received names and honorary rankings, doctrine is still based on their protection of human lives.

The Sirians tend to have a more relaxed attitude towards AIs than elsewhere. This does not mean that the Sirians are naive "AI-Lovers" as is sometimes alleged. The Cinder Seat War (3045) against the LOGOS AI was an extremely nasty affair by any standard and had repercussions for AI research in the whole humiverse and the SSR in particular. In the meantime research has regained pace, but is still far behind what would have been possible. Sirian scientist work under the assumption that once the intelligence can be harnessed, it will mean another great leap forward in relieving the plight of the worker.