You explained why we have reproduction but didn’t explain why our reproduction was sexual.
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This is because one has to focus on the important parts of life.
There are a good number of children born from artificial insemination, or “Tube Children” in the state, specially from the time of secession and forced relocation.
Reproduction does not need to be necessarily connected to sexual or carnal conjunction.
The term sexual reproduction doesn’t refer to the intercourse itself. It refers to the basis of our reproduction where two haploid gametes fuse to form a diploid cell. This is seen in most multicellular eukaryotes.
The opposite of sexual reproduction is asexual reproduction where the organism get all it’s genetic material from one parent, thus having the same genetic material. This is mostly seen in single cell organisms such as bacteria.
Even artificial insemination is typically based on sexual reproduction since two haploid gametes are used.
Sexual reproduction has been one of the driving forces for evolution as it mixes our genes and in broad terms let the strong spread more. Now granted the modern society and medical science interferes much with the evolution, it hasn’t completely offset it. Many genetic disorders are still more prevalent in certain bloodlines only.
Restricting our genetic mixing between same bloodlines only is nothing but an arbitrary limit that serves no purpose from a biological standpoint. Our bloodlines all carries genes that was advantageous in the environment of their home planets, but after all these years of space travel it serves absolutely no purpose. So people might as well produce offspring with partners who carries a different genetic background to even out the flaws from your own.
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Nauplius doesn’t understand science stuff though, Dr. Starsurge.
Words like “gametes” run the risk of being interpreted as the name of the 23rd Tribe of Minmatar or something along those lines.
The cat is out of the bag. Repeat, the cat is out of the bag.
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Well my reply was not just aimed at Nauplius but also the other people who seem to have slept through the basic biology classes at capsuleer school.
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Sadly, Ms. Tereven’s correct about State policies, Lasa, though the actual approach they take is even more restrictive than she makes it sound: State matchmakers tend to match people based on similar appearance, not just common bloodline. The policy’s only really explicable if they’re trying to recreate some of the ancient ethnicities from the time of the Raata Empire-- which, considering the profound nostalgia the Caldari hold for that time, is probably exactly what they’re doing.
Naturally a mixed-blood person such as myself (half Achur, so my mother’s line doesn’t even originate on Caldari Prime) represents a major step back in this process. I expect I’d have trouble finding a partner if I remained under State authority, and any children I might have would face the same issue.
I’d like to be able to say the Achura are better about this, but I think mostly we’re just less organized about it. I don’t remember anymore what I went through as a child, but I wouldn’t say my Civire blood was an asset on Achura, from my clan’s perspective or from mine.
Another case of capsule compatibility to the rescue I guess.
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That’s even worse.
It never ceases to amaze me how quick we as capsuleers are to attack the cultural traditions of people other than our own. Just because the Caldari have a tradition of racial homogeny it is somehow an affront to those that don’t hold the same traditional viewpoint.
This tradition has been with the Caldari since time immemorial and has been a point in our culture since its inception. It is not an effort to breed out weakness or some misguided notion that one race is superior to others; merely it is an act of reverence and honoring our ancestors, a way of keeping their lines alive even until today.
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It never ceases to amaze me how often very questionable practices are defended by people as cultural tradition.
By whose judgment is it ‘questionable?’ Yours? What authority do you have on the matter?
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The main issue I have with it, sir, is that it makes reverence for the ancestors a basis for systematic cruelty to the living, in ways official and unofficial. If I weren’t a capsuleer it’d likely be difficult for me to find work, or an officially sanctioned partner.
I’m still an Achur, but I have no illusions I’m welcome back home. Part of that is because of my past, which, also, is tangled up in this. My predecessor regarded herself as a curse on our clan-- a vengeful ghost. But, I was my family’s shame even before that. That, mostly, is what she saw herself avenging.
I’m safely away, now, living comfortably in another nation-- one which, Mr. Nauplius aside, is not so obsessed with the horrid mixing of bloodlines. Maybe it’s cowardly of me to speak from such a perspective, but it’s precisely because I am not risking losing my position or becoming a Dissoc that I can speak this freely. Other jaalan like me would run a great risk in letting themselves be identified, especially already carrying the stigma of mixed blood.
My predecessor’s pain was a lot of why she became the person she did, Mr. Khross. I don’t share it, and I do hold a lot of affection for the State. But while some friends tell me otherwise, try to persuade me I’d find the same warmth and companionship among my fellow State nationals that I find here in the Society, I know that they’re the exception, not the rule.
The State values conformity, and I’m bad at that, right down to my blood. It’s mostly my privileged status that’s allowed me to escape at all. If I returned I’d never be really accepted.
That’s just how it is. But I won’t pretend to like it.
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Have you considered why people dislike certain traditions? You may understand it better when you see it from point of view of the victims of said traditions.
Ms. Jenneth,
I appreciate your candor and it’s true I haven’t experienced the situation from the other side of the table so I appreciate the illumination. You do have the authority to speak on the matter and have done so eloquently.
The State most certainly does value conformity and uniformity and places great emphasis on these areas across business and personal life. I suppose where some of us find comfort in these things others see them as constraints and unwelcome boundaries.
It is something that may change in time but something that must change within because we Caldari will it to do so not because outsiders judge it barbaric.
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A victim of said tradition speaking about it, such as Ms. Jenneth has eloquently and appropriately done above, is something I welcome and review with the respect it deserves.
The blanket judgment of those outside who curl their lips simply because it offends their own personal traditions or sensibilities deserves no such respect or weight.
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Yet, you jump to conclusions because someone is unwilling to go into detail on a public forum?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I asked three questions:
By whose judgment is the practice ‘questionable?’
Was it your judgment?
If so, what is your authority on the matter?
Those aren’t conclusions, they’re questions. If you do not wish to answer them here then don’t, we can always talk in a more comfortable venue.
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Oohhh… Oh damn. This kinda explains the Caldari Navy’s response to the invasions. Gotta be like everybody else, so gotta ECM the same target, gotta leave their ship’s resist profiles unmodified…
I’m not gonna tell y’all conformity is bad and you should feel bad, because that ain’t true. I would suggest that some room be made for variation, adaptation.
If everyone has the same physique and appearance, it makes designing one-size-fits-all apparel so much more straightforward and efficient.
No mental anguish over designing a shoe that looks good in 5 different adult women’s sizes, if every adult woman’s foot is the same size and shape.