Around the Question of Differences between CoS and Our Own World
An interesting difference between the humanity actual state in the Earth and this other fictional stage depicted in CoS is the distinction between the systems of remuneration and reward. Today, most humans live out of the salary while in CoS they have a sort of status system that guarantee certain privileges according to their ranks. On chapter nine there is a critique to the economy based on money. The time humanity used that system is considered barbarous; the “fight-for-the-buck” is seen as savage competition. Indeed, in CoS, overcoming the individualism and materialism of this era was the great evolutionary step they took. Nevertheless, the book shows how much of their privacy and free will that cost. Detective Baley, numerous time through the story, do his job only for fear that he and his family could lose their privileges.
What make this difference interesting is that truly their economy system is not so different than what we have now. Besides the fact that we use currencies to acquire things and services, we are very often working against our will just to guarantee special access, special food, special privileges in general, for us and for our families. We are trapped by our consumption habits. In the same way, we depend on and perpetuate the city’s structure because we believe that doing so we are reaching a better existence.
Another remarkable discrepancy that also cares some seeds of truth for us is the fact that we don’t hate robots. In fact, we don’t even have that sort of technology available in the market for everyone. However, considering the technology that we do have, there is a layer of the population that do behave like the medievalist from CoS. I think that is safe to say that most people born in or before the 80’s have great difficult assimilation technological advances. Like the medievalists, they have this sort of nostalgia, they resent this period in which technology is so predominant and they refuse to evolve with it.
