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Aldo Giannattasio, Laura Cornman, Katrina Willis, Tucker Leicht

Group Project World Building Exercise

Opening Statement

SpaceSpur has a history of tribalistic anarchy due to a government that could not enforce
its laws that were intended to protect individual citizens. Therefore, our hope is to
continue technological development that aids the new militia which enforces rule of law
and protects individual liberty and communities from theft and violence. Additionally,
the laissez faire government will allow Chasers to continue to develop their labor
technologies which will continue to improve their trading practices. We also hope that
Gusses will develop less time to hating the Chasers and more time to developing their
own technology to support their communities so they can leave their life of crime. In
relation to the rest of the world, SpaceSpur requests to be left alone but is open to
economic relationships.

Questions:

Why do you believe that technology would not be beneficial to your society, as it has
increased the wellbeing of our formerly oppressed class, the Chasers, through self-
defense and trade? Could improve your agriculture issue. (Siposa)

Why would you not encourage the development of technology when it could improve
your economy through trade practices? (Stratus)

You say you don’t want technology - how can you prevent the organic development of
technology without oppressing your people? (Stratus)

Sexual Identity, Racial Equality and Religious Influence:

When looking at the sexual identity of the Gusses and the Chasers it becomes
apparent that there is a high stable level of equality when discussing sexual identity
among the two groups. Since the Gusses are made up of computer parts they are in a
society where sexuality does not exist. This is due to their robotic qualities where they are
unable to have any sort of sexual identity since they are mechanical and made by
machines. Therefore their society doesn’t have gender stereotypes nor is the issue
something that they are able to comprehend. On the other hand the Chasers have a sexual
identity where there are both males and females.
However, just because equality exists in one area doesn’t lead to their being a
perfect utopia where inequalities are non-existent. Racial prejudices occur due to the
physical makeup of the robots, which occurs from the overall economic factors within
their society. Currently there is a big discrepancy between the two groups, where the
Gusses are a newer looking flashy robot unlike the Chasers who are made out of old worn
out parts. This physical appearance occurs due to their economic well being where the
Chasers are poor and the Gusses are wealthy. Primarily this occurs due to the Gusses
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having stolen from the Chasers for many generations and therefore are unable to afford
sleek body parts when having their offspring produced. This results in the new generation
of robots hating one another based on the notion that one group thinks they are superior
to the other, while the other believes they are equal and hates how the other looks.
Therefore we can see rampant racism that is highly stable and unchanging due to
longtime conflicts. As a result the Chasers continue to have animosity toward the Gusses
based off of the fact that they hate how the Gusses look, which resulted from their stolen
wealth that would have gone toward their robot children having a better future. While on
the other hand the Gusses hate the Chasers due to the belief that they are superior and
shouldn’t have to coexist with them. Along with that we see they hate the Chasers due to
them trying to spread the notion of a democratic state where equality exists instead of an
anarchical Machiavellian approach dealing with survival of the fittest.
Finally it is seen that the influence of religion plays a factor in the way that these
two groups of robots think. Due to the longstanding conflict between the two groups,
which are equally sized it is seen that there is a stable religious influence amongst the
groups that is unchanging. The Gusses worship the poodle god, which takes on the belief
of being selfish and greedy. That therefore results in them always stealing from the
Chasers and believing that committing acts that only better themselves is acceptable in
society. On the other hand the Chasers worship the golden retriever god, which takes the
stance of not bringing harm to your neighbor whether it results directly or indirectly from
an action. That then results in them usually trying to be peaceful and to not fight back
with the Gusses unless they must.

Economic Distribution, Class equality, and Artistic and Military Influence

In SpaceSpur, many of the behavioral traits that impact relations between the
Gusses and Chasers also affect their quality of life. For example, SpaceSpur has
noticeable class inequality. Whereas the Gusses live in reasonable luxury, the Chasers
struggle to maintain a basic level of lifestyle stability. Gusses are well fed and pay high
dollar to produce and watch theatrical interpretations of their moral superiority to the
Chasers. Although they trade with other nations, they do so lazily and without much
business savvy. Still, they manage to live quite comfortably, building homes with a sleek
polished aesthetic to match their personal appearance. The Chasers however, are worn
down from long days toiling away in the gold mines and marijuana fields. They mostly
sing to each other for entertainment, a lovely art passed down through generations that
does not cost them the little spare money they have. Because Gusses tend to age out and
pass away quickly due to the inability to buy new parts for themselves, they have many
children per family. However, their financial situation makes feeding these children a
burdensome concern for Guss parents.
The reason for the two dichotomous lifestyles is the cruelty of the Gusses.
Whenever Gusses see the Chasers earning money and assets through their thriving
agriculture and trade, they send a band of militants to raid the Chaser community and
take a vast majority of Chaser’s earnings. The Guss militants called the GussHoo, spend
their free time training in the art of moltov cocktail construction and boxing. Their
military abilities intimidate the Chasers who do their best to hide during the raids. The
GussHoo then ride back to the Guss community and distribute their loot among its
population. However, when the Chasers develop their own organized defensive militia,
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they begin to successfully block Guss raids. Many of the GussHoo leave military life in
the face of defeat, leaving the net level of military influence in SpaceSpur fairly stable.
However, the unsuccessful raids leave to less economic distribution efforts by the Gusses.
Instead, Chasers are able to keep their profits and their community begins to improve its
standard of living, leading to lowering class inequality. In order to cope with the crushing
defeat, Gusses put on theatrical performances portraying Chasers as evil, greedy agents of
the golden retriever devil. Chasers continue their long history of vocal performances with
the increasing financial ability to record and market their talent as trade good to other
nations.

Social Services, Government Involvement, Rule of Law, and Technology Influence:

When looking at the world of SpaceSpur, social services such as health/education
are rare and inconsistent and this is a stable trend. The Gusses receive the most benefits
from health and education services by receiving top healthcare plans and privileged
education. Whereas, the Chasers receive almost no health benefits and struggle to receive
a decent education because they are not allowed in privileged institutions. In terms of
government involvement, there is a low involvement, laissez-faire form of government
that is trending upward. The aim is to move away from a more low-involvement
government where the Gusses reign control over the population and more towards a
persuasive government involvement that incorporates democratic ruling so that there is
equal distribution between the Gusses and the Chasers. At the moment, the Gusses are
benefiting the most from low government involvement and it gives them the ability to
have a more “wild west” approach to keeping order or rather little order in society. The
world of Space Spur is ruled by vigilante justice and this is a stable aspect of society.
Essentially, the Gusses steal from the Chasers and they are a band of vigilantes that make
up the “wild west” rule of law. Because there is little to no government involvement, this
further allows the Gusses to do as they please. In terms of technology influence, there is a
strong tech influence in SpaceSpur that is also a stable aspect. The Gusses are highly
militant, vigilante, part tech beings. This influence of technology can be seen in the
highly militarized aspect of SpaceSpur as well as sexual identity. The Gusses and Chasers
are both mechanical beings made by machine and the Gusses are genderless.

Gender Equality, Agriculture & Trade, Economic Strength

There is widespread gender equality amongst the Gusses and the Chasers.
Spacespur currently has small inequalities between genders, but the level of equality is
trending upward. At the moment, there is a higher level of gender equality for the Gusses
compared to the Chasers. This is because there are still expectations in the Chasers
community in regards to the roles people take on. For example, much of the labor (gold
mining/farming Marijuana) is done by the males. In regard to Spacspurs agriculture and
trade, there are both currently operating on stable levels. This is another trending area for
the world though, as both agriculture and trading are improving. The increase in these
two can be credited to an increase in demand for its two biggest exports, gold and
marijuana. The demand for those two goods are a big reason why Spacspur has a stable
economy, though it is not seeing any further growth.