The Read-Along discussion

A few thoughts on chapter one. The empire reminds me of descriptions of the various empires of China in the past. Especially the focus on poetry among the bureaucracy, which was apparently a requirement on imperial examinations. I think Guy Kay's River Of Stars illustrates it well. Eating the incinerated remains reminds me of Stranger In A Strange Land, and speaks to the philosophy of recycling everything on the station, I think Mahit even refers to the remains being 'recycled'. And I think it is this mindset that explains the imago technology, as Stationers cannot waste anything and thus develop ways of saving even experiences to be recycled for future generations. The empire, by contrast, has such wealth in both resources and people that it would not occur to them to conduct research in this direction. I do find it a bit hard to believe that a piece of tech that appears to be so ubiquitous to Stationers could remain unknown to the empire, though I suppose it could be explained by the fact that the barbarians are not taken seriously by citizens.