The point about system V is that it’s very philosophical and value-centered. That’s why in system V location and previous traditions will play much less of a role than under system D. Still, the way that system V is put into practice does depend at least somewhat on where and when it is adopted. As a general rule, p-faction affiliation becomes the most distinguishing factor in system V.
Today I want to briefly present four system V p-factions:
The Liberty
The Liberty is the ideological successor of libertarianism, but it’s made logically consistent with a framework that is based on “libertarian consequentialism”. Freedom is to be maximized. Knowledge is valued highly by the members of the Liberty, because knowledge enables one to see more options and to be freer in one’s choices. Liberty members are also rather individualistic, and have no strict position on hedonic policy.
The Unity
The Unity is also based on the principle of liberty, but argues that full liberty cannot be achieved, if the are rights granted to subsystems of systems that restrict the freedom of the supersystem to do with the subsystems what it wants. Thought through to the end, the result is that there can only be one single system that is completely free to do what it pleases. And that’s the Unity hive-mind. It strives to maximize its own knowledge to maximize its freedom. And it doesn’t care about much else, and is quite hungry for power and resources.
Other factions see the Unity as pretty scary and ruthless, and try to prevent the Unity from becoming too reckless and powerful.
The Balance
Unlike the other p-factions the Balance isn’t based on a single set of values, but is based on the principle of balance of multiple sets of values. They are the moderates in system V. And they become increasingly popular and influential on Earth. The Balance is the p-faction that is most hopeful about convergence of value systems, and which devotes a lot of effort to finding the Universal Value System, and to promote peace and harmony between the other p-factions.
The Interestingness
The members of the Interestingness are the true lunatics of the Fractal Cosmos. They believe that the cosmos is a simulation made by simulators who want interesting stuff to happen. That’s why the Interestingness wants to maximize the “interestingness” of the cosmos, mostly by seeding chaos and drama, sometimes on the borderline between extreme art and terrorism. It’s unsurprising that the Interestingness is mostly despised by members of other p-factions.