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of stating birth date suffers obloquy from reformers and egalitarians, it
still is in use. Those favoring the custom assert that the historical period
in which a man is born tells you much of his outlook, customs, and
circumstances; those opposing say it is a form of elitism, where elders are
given undue prestige, and that the scholastic name tells one all one needs to
know about outlook, custom, and circumstance.
THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE
Naturally, the economic and political liberty enjoyed during the Golden Age,
the wealth, tolerance, and splendor, were sharply curtailed during the warlike
colonial age that followed. A greater degree of uniformity in thought and
conduct was required in order to preserve the Golden Oecumene from Silent
Oecumene attacks, both physical and subtle. Certainly the worlds terraformed
and colonies established by Phaethon of Rhadamanth, and, later, by his
brothers Bellerophon and Icarus, would not for many generations have the
capital available to create the machinery needed to organize their affairs as
efficiently and happily as their mother world; even maintaining the
infrastructure necessary for individual immortality was problematic for the
unsuccessful colonies.
It may be that the Transcendence of the Aurelian period anticipated the final
outcome of these events, and knew whether they would, on the whole, involve
the human race in weal or woe. But if so, no hint has descended from the aery
realms of transhuman thought to tell the men who were to fight in that war
whether their efforts were doomed to futility and defeat or would be graced
with the plume of victory: even the Earthmind cannot see all outcomes.
But no matter whether the future was destined to lead to joy or sorrow, after
this period in history, civilization was destined to spread among the nearer
stars; and no single disaster howsoever great, no war howsoever dread, vast,
and terrible, would any longer have the power to eliminate mankind from the
drama of cosmic history.
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