In the Collective worldbuilding project thread I mentioned the Exaltation as an example of a p faction. P may stand for philosphical or principled, and in some sense also “political”, but not all political factions are p factions. So, let me define what I mean by a p faction:
- A p faction is a group of people who bind together on the basis of a set of coherent philosophical principles.
In some sense, there are already p factions, but they rarely become politically successful:
- Marxists
- Different flavours of anarchists
- Libertarians
- Objectivists
- Utilitarians
- Transhumanists
These philosophical schools of thought may be influential, but they are typically less successful than more populist and less principled factions. The philosophical purity of p factions rarely survives when a p faction wants to meddle in real world politics. Political parties often become opportunistic and make ugly compromises in order to increase and maintain their power. Whole nations are even less principled and philosophical, because they are based on compromises between different parties. So, to simplify it in sense of philosophical coherence and purity:
p faction > p superfaction > party > nation > alliance
Now what is a “p superfaction”? It’s a union of different more specific p factions. Let’s take a practical example. Let’s say there are generic transhumanists, objectivist transhumanists and utilitarian transhumanists. The generic transhumanists which are not objectivist or utilitarian or subscribe to some other clearly defined philosophy don’t constitute a real p factions, but they are part of the transhumanist p (super)faction. The objectivist transhumanists and the utilitarian transhumanists are p factions in themselves and p subfactions of the objectivist / utilitarian / transhumanist p superfactions.
So, what is the Exaltation? The Exaltation is a p subfaction of the p faction of utilitarian transhumanists who also adopted the principles of
- Ecstasy: The radical increase of happiness is a core principle of the Exaltation. Hedonistic augmentaions like genetic happiness set-point enhancement and beneficial “wireheading” implants are core technologies which the Exaltation uses, because it has this principle of ecstasy.
- Responsibility: The Exaltation sticks to the concept of compensation of harm that is inflicted on others. When harming others cannot be reasonably avoided, those who endure the harm should be compensated generously.
In the Exaltation Verse the Exaltation has to deal with competing p factions which are also p subfactions of the utilitarian transhumanists:
- The Exuberance which adheres to the principle of ecstasy, but not that of responsibility
- The Sanctuary which doesn’t adhere to the principle of ecstasy, but that of responsibility
- The Vastness which reject both the principle of ecstasy or responsibility, but it is still utilitarian transhumanist in nature.
There also may be (transhumanist) p factions which focus either on the rights of individuals or of that of group- and hive minds. But I haven’t thought too much about that issue, yet.
My premise for the future is that p factions will become more influential as general levels of wealth, intelligence, and education rise, because people will start thinking more rationally and philosophically.