Four Cultural Patterns: Where we've been, and where we're headed
By Dario Nardi, Adapted from Radiance Players Guide, 2008.
What is Culture?
What is culture? A culture includes a shared set of beliefs, norms, practices, and expectations. People are born into a culture and acquire its essence in youth. Every person has a culture just as every computer has an operating system. Typically, a person’s upbringing decides his or her culture. Often, people are so immersed in their own culture, in its current incarnation, that they are unable to appreciate how their own culture truly was, or will be, much less the deep qualities of other cultures.
People are sustained by culture as fish are sustained by water. A seemingly infinite number of combinations of societal parameters—geographies, governments, economies, religions—might seem possible. However, sustainable societies gravitate toward and rely on a coherent state of affairs, where all the parameters gel and reinforce each other. Thus, culture is an invisible and complex web, and only a few webs are lasting.
Four Cultural Patterns
This paper describe 4 cultural patterns including Mind-Set, Daily Life, Governance, and attitudes to Outsiders. These patterns can manifest in various ways across space and time, and often a society will clearly have one or two sub-cultural patterns alongside the dominant one, for no society is ever static. In fact, a dynamic tension within a society between cultural patterns means it is alive, hopefully thriving, and perhaps quite stressed. The patterns can apply to organizations or segments of society as easily as whole societies.
Note: The names of the cultures are selected for familiarity to a typical Western reader; the patterns are more general than the names suggest.
- Primal Tribal (seek survival)
- Medieval Feudal (seek salvation)
- Enterprising Colonial (seek progress)
- Decadent Imperial (seek pleasure)
As noted in parentheses, each culture comes with a unique striving by its name. Whenever you are in a society or organization with that culture, or thinking about how you might conduct yourself, ask yourself how a belief or course of action will support or hinder that striving.
You can refer to these patterns for a variety of applications. For example, if you are a science fiction writer speculating about a futuristic human culture ruled by inscrutable AI machines, you will likely find a good fit here despite the fantastical elements. Of course if you are a historian or anthropologist, you probably prefer a more scholarly approach. That said, you will likely recognize the patterns as examples of how societies self-maintain despite, or due to, their complexity.
Culture is the Glue of Human Complex Systems
Some people will argue that there are no categories: All of history is ad-hoc. Of course. But firstly, know that these are not strict categories. They are themes, akin to motifs or colors, that run through a tapestry. You can have a stunning multi-colored tapestry of unique events that nonetheless relies on four base colors and portrays four timeless themes.
Secondly, all systems throughout the natural and social worlds are “complex adaptive systems”. Such systems look complex and function from the interplay of many variables. And yet, mathematics shows us that such systems have “attractors”. That’s a technical term. An attractor is a pattern of thematically coherent behavior to which a system is drawn in space and time. Like of a gravitational well, the seasons, urban market districts, economic cycles, and so forth. The four cultures here are another set of attractors.
Akin to physics, cultures are “3 body” problems. Thus, no culture is defined by a single person or force. Rather, each culture as described here is composed of a triad: two competing and complementary power centers with common people jostling in between. For example, a Medieval society’s three primary power centers might be its king, other privileged persons (mostly priests and nobility), and the commoners, though of course we can make finer distinctions if we like or even adjust these three to reflect a different balance of parties. Or in today’s world, the three power centers could easily be government, international banks and mega-corporations, and the common people; and each of these centers is itself a complex system and factionalized, like a fractal pattern. There are other ways to describe social and cultural systems. But for our purposes, the notion of competing power centers explains the drama of life and reveals opportunities for change, disaster, and rewards.
Examples from the Western World
As we go, let’s briefly explore some examples from the Western world. Here, that means Europe over the past 2,500 years and North America over the past 500 years. For history buffs, I distinguish between the “Dark Ages” and the “Middle Ages”. We could (and should!) discuss other societies, including Europe’s often fascinating Bronze and Iron age societies, and pre-Republic Rome, the Americas before European arrival, and so on, but I will stick to more familiar examples.
Primal Tribal Culture (seek survival)
People in a primal culture live in the eternal now and view life’s events as a wheel of endlessly repeating seasons. Changes are predictable. Birth, life, and death are equally sacred and accepted, and the natural world drives people’s choices since anything man-made rarely resists nature’s ferocity. This culture is not just an ancient one grounded in some long ago prehistory. It dominates societies after extreme disasters and apocalyptic events, where ruins belie an earlier golden age, and this could easily lie in our future. A primal culture can survive eons provided the world around it shifts slowly enough for them to adapt and live off of the land as it is.
Mind-set: Primal peoples strive for survival, which means securing nourishing food, clean water, sturdy shelter, friendly neighbors, tame animals, and healthy families. The physical environment may be harsh or temperate. If it is harsh, everyone is too busy grappling with the elements and perhaps with each other to follow tedious dogmas, start business enterprises, or indulge decadent pursuits. Ironically, a pleasant world may demand so little that people merely hunt and gather as needed to enjoy life. Because primal peoples experience the world as largely outside of their control, their gods are aspects of nature deserving respect. These essential spirits—peaceful or violent, honest or deceitful—suffuse their lives. Thus, everything can be magical in some way, and giving tribute is often seen as a way to avoid divine wrath and gain favor. Tribute might include sacrificing weak or disruptive members of a community when times are tough. Values such as excessive hygiene, literacy, and decorum are unimaginable or seem silly. Beyond a village’s perimeter, here is no ladder to climb or mortal ruler to truly obey or rebel against. Similarly, without scientific knowledge, people hold superstitions (alongside of their very practical knowledge) that provide meaning and either incidentally help or hinder their survival.
Daily Life: A person in a primal culture rises and beds with the sun and engages in herding, hunting, gathering, scavenging, weaving, cooking, child-rearing, and subsistence farming as the weather and seasons allow. No one is too good to contribute. An idle hand or loose tongue offers no benefits while consuming community resources and creating conflict. Nor is life so complex that specialization is needed beyond core roles such as hunting or shepherding. Work is often seasonal. For example, everyone helps plant in late spring and engages in crafts while trapped indoors in winter. The people may work mightily during crucial periods while enjoying remarkable relaxation other times. Special events such as funerals and marriages are attended by the entire community, as are feast days due to a bountiful find or large kill.
Governance: The centers of authority in primal societies are local elders and warriors. The elders are not the physically fittest members but have proven themselves in the past and are living repositories of key survival skills and the wisdom of many seasons. Because there are few if any media (e.g. books) to transmit lore across generations, and because the world changes in a slow, predictable way, the people listen to, protect, and honor elders. Elders may also act as representatives of the gods. At the same time, warriors help maintain the peace against natural threats and hostile outsiders, particularly in lean times. Various trophies, from looted goods and terrible scars to body parts and memorable stories, testify to a warrior’s courage and capabilities. Occasional competitions between warriors also help toughen and grade them. The best enjoy the rewards of greater food, finer shelter, and more spouses. Typically, a middle-age chieftain with a balance of experience, strength, and charisma leads the people. The chief rises to power based on proven ability, not bloodline or abstract measures like “coins”, though sometimes the chief is a compromise or puppet of the elders, warriors or both.
Outsiders: Primal societies usually fear outsiders. A person’s speech and looks betray his nature. Often, a stranger’s reception depends on current events. If the people have enjoyed plenty and peace, they happily share. In contrast, during hardship and wartime, strangers may be attacked on sight. In general, while mistrustful of outsiders, people from a primal culture warmly embrace as one of their own the individuals who have truly proven good intent and demonstrated kindness and heroism.
Example from Western History: This includes many regions in Europe during the Dark Ages, from the fall of the Roman Empire (CE 476) to the launch of the crusades (CE 1096). Some regions such as in France under Charlemagne (CE 768+) transitioned to a more Medieval Feudal culture during this time. For the most part, however, people lived in isolated villages and carried on pre-historical ways of life, and not just agriculture but also seasonal hunting, fishing, gathering, crafting, and so forth. The seasonable nature of the work, and the strong identifications with “tribe”, are what signal this culture. Many areas of Europe such as Scandinavia remained pagan with local and regional shamanic practices continuing alongside or in competition with the slow but steady spread of a centralized Christianity. In time, the crusades ushered in a period of organization, cooperation, and politicking that brought new products, habits, and thinking.
Medieval Feudal Culture (seek salvation)
People in a medieval culture are pessimistic and tethered to the past, their own and others’ sworn loyalties, rituals, and deeply-held beliefs. Change is rare and easily subtracts from life’s meager comforts. Often, serfs suffer to serve a few well-off nobles who parade themselves as superior by blood. Everyone faithfully (or not) repeats their forbearers’ roles and trusts that noble and divine agents offer wisdom regarding choices and the afterlife, which is vital since people suffer disease, ignorance, and violence. Suffering provides spiritual meaning and boosts faith. Faith may be in a single god, a pantheon or the absence of gods with a political dogma at the center. Faith is fervent, more genuine than not, and trumps many other concerns.
Mind-set: Medieval peoples strive for salvation, both from their bodily aches and worries and for their eternal souls in the afterlife. Typically, a unified religious dogma, maintained and interpreted by a clergy, provides a road map to salvation. All the better to offer steps, such as redemption via forgiveness before salvation, to keep people engaged. Sometimes, this “medieval” culture follows a non-divine (secular) dogma with the same ardor as a religion. Whatever the details—and the devil is in the details—the impact is the same. There is modest to strict division by sex, class, and profession, down to what clothing people can wear, ostensibly to ward off barbarism and promote faith, which is never easy. Hard work is also encouraged to distract and exhaust people. Otherwise, free time and idle hands and minds lead to questioning, disruption, and revolt. The body and mind are kept so busy that only the heart, with its love of faith and loyalties, has time to thrive.
Daily Life: A person in a medieval society rises at dawn, repeats rituals, works in the fields (or, as a modern equivalent, a factory), and spends time with family and friends. Typically, there is little news from distant places and communication is slow, so hearsay and rumors abound. Often, people often require permission regarding travel, what crops they can plant or items they can craft, and even what profession they can practice. Proper moral and ethical conduct is also dictated, and the result is a society frozen in time with minimal economic or social freedom. Even family life, which might provide solace, is plagued by early and untimely deaths and possibly paranoia if leaders reward people for spying on their own loved-ones and neighbors. That said, friendships formed by faith, trust, and shared hardship are generally firm and lasting, and fun times of community celebration such as feast days, game days, high holy days, public executions, and noble weddings are highly meaningful and often joyful occasions.
Governance: The centers of authority in medieval societies are the local warlord and the clergy. The warlord, also called lord, king of queen, was likely born into his position as the eldest son (or daughter) of the previous warlord, though power struggles and war may alter succession. The warlord, by whatever title, is legislator, executor, and judge. His word is law, immediately, unquestionably, and without exception unless he offers a dispensation. Even if there is a council of elders and limited democracy, everyone knows that stepping outside the lines is punished. And even if the local warlord is kind and wise, he owes his loyalty to a higher lord above him, the king (or emperor) of the land, also born into his role as dictated “by the gods”. At the same time, clergy provide a religious foundation, act as gatekeepers of knowledge, help massage political impasses, and, in theory, act as role-models and counselors regarding life’s problems. In a nonreligious feudal culture, a perch of bureaucrats fill the same role with equal zeal. Finally, against threats from within and without, the warlord keeps a loyal band of knights. In some cases, only nobles can become knights while others join them in battle as infantry. Military and clerical service often allow people to improve their lot and possibly gain small parcels of land for their own use.
Outsiders: Strangers are generally unwelcome in medieval societies. Medieval settlements are small points of light buttressing against a great darkness. Brigands, wild animals, and demonic spirits lurk in the woods. Heroes from within the community are cheered, even loved, but also somewhat suspect. Those who rise too quickly may be targeted with claims of foul magic, treachery or worse. That said, a forgiving word from the warlord or from a revered clergy person or knight is usually enough to smooth situations, for a time.
Example from Western History: This starts with the launch of the crusades (CE 1096) and includes the Middle Ages, including the much romanticized Gothic period. During this time, even the far corners of Europe were far more organized, connected, and culturally coherent than during the prior Dark Ages. The Catholic Church played a pivotal role as glue, and there were many cultural innovations. There were universities, the beginnings of banking and legal courts, a guild system to pass down craft skills, and of course the kings and queens of what would become today’s nation states. For most, daily life was not survival mode; nor was it so pleasant. There was very little science or industry, however, as these were essentially discouraged both by mindset and lack of resources. Eventually, with the fall of Constantinople (CE 1453), many new ideas entered Europe. The Reformation (CE 1517), the start of the Renaissance, and the European “discovery” of the Americas (CE 1492) also signaled momentous changes.
Enterprising Colonial Culture (seek progress)
People in an enterprising culture are optimistic and forward-thinking. The times are “heady” in a sense that people trust rational enlightenment and the power of a tamed imagination. Change feels normal and is assumed to lead to improvements. Plans today can be actualized by tomorrow or in a year. The citizenry take pride in their amazing progress, look hopefully to the future, and trust that knowledge and reason will help them deftly solve any and all problems. In fact, they must keep inventing and troubleshooting, since their hulking factories and wondrous machines tend to break down and inflict as many challenges—unemployment, blight, crowding, and pollution—as they solve.
Mind-set: Enterprising citizens strive for progress, including literacy, hygiene, decorum, and industry. While wide disparities may exist between rich and poor, many labor—and compete heartily—to climb life’s ladders. People are tasked to greet obstacles with a robust “fix it” mentality, and failure is said to occur due to failings of character, improper education or laziness. Since human beings are not naturally (out of the womb) upstanding and schooled workaholics, this culture doesn’t trust instinct and views the natural world and human drives as primitive beasts to harness. Similarly, “primitive” peoples and foreign lands ripe with resources are best harnessed as well. People must be educated to acquire skills. Rough youths must be shaped into gentlemen. Mountains are flattened to make way for trains, and so forth. Similarly, magic may be treated as a kind of science, but dark, disruptive, and superstitious practices are squashed. In general, whatever offers personal gain without brains or toil is suspect. Even religion is more about enlightened virtues, work ethic, and self-improvement than appeasing gods, who might not really exist. Even when divine power appears real, everything seems to lend itself—in time—to mortal explanation.
Daily Life: An enterprising citizen rises before dawn to begin work in a factory, warehouse, office, school, church or farm. Men, women, and children all regularly toil 8, 12 or even 16 hours daily. Only the wealthy and lazy enjoy leisure. A poor person is often choked with industrial grime, may suffer injuries in the biting gears of heavy machinery, return home to crowded (but relatively sanitary) tenements, and earn just enough to squeak by. Middle class families own homes and employ a maid or tutor as they ply less physically strenuous trades such as medicine and law. The upper class includes captains of industry and moneyed families who acquire great wealth drawn from huge marketplaces. A citizen will likely purchase a daily newspaper to learn about events both local and distant. Similarly, trips to nearby cities are relatively reliable and cheap without fear of banditry or inclement weather.
Governance: The centers of power in enterprising societies are merchant houses and the nation state. The nation might be a city or island or a whole continent. Whatever the case, people identify with their nation. They hail its history, myths, traditions, rulers, and aspirations because these elements have lead to their present progress. The government might be a democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, republic or technocracy. However the rule, all citizens necessarily enjoy a certain degree of mobility and freedom. Without which, inspiration, creativity, and ingenuity would quickly plummet. Freedom includes equality of opportunity: genius and gumption are rewarded regardless of a person’s blood. Since progress occurs when a norm is challenged, an enterprising society that loses freedoms turns into something else. Being educated and intelligent, the citizens of an enterprising society rightly fear breakdown of the societal machine. They remain vigilant. In particular, they punish corruption, feeble judgment, and decadence. Rule of law is particularly important to ensure rights of citizens and businesses in a dense, complex society where few people know each other personally.
Outsiders: Enterprising societies often view other cultures and peoples with pity as inferior or chumps to be taken advantage of. They offer these folk education and work while taking and using their resources. Thus, the scourge of colonialism. Law-abiding heroes, from privateers to self-made tycoons, are cautiously welcomed as role-models. Villains are those who flaunt the law, revel in madness or bestial instincts, try to turn back the clock, discourage work, or seek to tyrannically extinguish the euphoric spirit of the age.
Example from Western History #1: This includes the Roman Republic period. To quote Wikipedia, it was "the era of classical Roman civilization, led by the Roman people, beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BC, and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire. During this period, Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world." Importantly, it "is generally considered one of the earliest examples of representative democracy." In many details, it parallels our second, more recent example below.
Example from Western History #2: This includes Europe and European immigrants to North America during the Age of Reason and Age of Exploration through the Industrial Revolution. In addition to the multiple big events (mentioned here and above) that ushered out Medieval Feudal culture, the invention of the clock and mechanized printing press (~CE 1440) had a huge impact. The use of water pumps in Britain to gather iron and coal are early examples of industry and engineering, and sailing with trade opened up people’s horizons and further encouraged science. There was a growing need for job specialization. As people experienced improvements in daily life and a middle class emerged, the pace accelerated. Colonial domination brought tremendous surplus resources to the West to feed that pace. Although the slave trade was organized in this time, it was also ultimately outlawed throughout the Western world too, a good turn in light of terrible practice otherwise pervasive throughout many societies and times. As with earlier periods, culture was not uniform across societies. Even in 1900, Russia was still weighed down by patterns of the Medieval Feudal period while Britain was busy trying to rule the world. This period ends with WW2, the invention of the Atomic Bomb, and the end of the nationalist paradigm under Pax Americana (CE 1992, or if you prefer, 2020).
Decadent Imperial Culture (seek pleasure)
People in an imperial culture are moderate in beliefs, welcoming of diversity, unapologetically hedonistic, and remorselessly self-involved. They view life as a giant game between competing political, religious, mercantile, ethnic, and military factions, where most people are pawns and where there is a steady stream of resources to buy or steal to keep the game going. Their society enjoys enough natural (or stolen) bounty that their focus is diverted away from other strivings such as survival or progress. Indeed, their science changes little with many incremental improvements but rarely if any big breakthroughs. Usually, the society enjoyed a modest burst of advances early in its history and now its people rest comfortably on their laurels.
Mind-set: Imperial peoples strive for pleasure, be it ethical and enlightened, brutal and perverse, or an ironic and paradoxical blend of both. Regardless of individuals’ varied intentions and beliefs, imperial societies lack meaningful innovation while consuming copious resources. Also, they easily pressure their neighbors near and far and enjoy relative immunity from the true consequences of their games. To sustain the pyramid scheme that feeds them, they need to keep expanding their reach through trade and war, by appealing to envy and fear, often in the name of offering peace and prosperity. In turn, an imperial culture is highly tolerant of different religions and traditions, all in the name of a bigger tent that can include everyone.
Daily Life: A citizen of an imperial culture rises to visit his sponsor or employer—someone with vast resources at his or her disposal—to learn the day’s instructions. He rounds up and manages those below him, often foreigners, the poor or slaves, in order to implement the actual work. The measure of a citizen’s day is how much he enjoyed it, free from hardship or stress to be his own little philosopher-king: creative, thoughtful, sociable, and happy. Sometimes, a citizen may visit his patron to request help. He may even advance at some point to become independent in his own right, though ascendency to patron status is very rare. Most people hold enough debts, both social and monetary, to ensure they are locked into a comfortable, nonthreatening trap. Moreover, the people are sufficiently specialized that their initial apprenticeship was likely their first debt to their patron and moving into a new profession is daunting. All persons in this culture likely enjoy many holidays, public entertainments, celebrity appearances, government giveaways, and other distractions. Distractions might include barbaric displays such as gladiatorial melees or even little wars. While some citizens are soldiers, they are usually officers commanding mercenaries and foreigners below them.
Governance: The centers of authority in an imperial culture are the emperor and the merchant houses (in our day, mega-corporations). The emperor and his retinue—family, allies, bureaucratic cabinet, and personal army—are removed from the daily hubbub of decision-making. The emperor is a key figurehead to provide assurance and continuity to the populace and to act as a fall-guy if events go terribly wrong. He uses his status to promote the wealth and welfare of himself and his allies, a goal that often requires expanding his nation’s reach through treaties or force in order to offer more bribes and gifts or build more palaces. In parallel, the merchant houses are both his means and his puppeteers. Each merchant house is a little nation unto itself with family, citizen minions who owe their livelihoods to it, and a small army to defend it and perhaps attack others if needed. The role of merchant houses may be invisible to the general populace, who might only see—for example—a single national army without understanding the army acts on behalf of hidden interests. When distractions and secrecy fail, rulers pit aggrieved groups against each other, then reward both sides with spoils. Ultimately, both the emperor and merchant houses are arbiters of the rules that guide their games. The ability to change the rules to one’s favor is the most potent outcome of any contest.
Outsiders: Imperial societies generally welcome outsiders. So long as the highest echelons of power are undisturbed behind walls and remain happily fed, more outsiders means more laborers, more pawns, and more diversions. Any “heroes” who rise up to harm the peace face lies, fines, torture, imprisonment, execution, enslavement or worse, likely to further the entertainment and pleasure of the people.
Examples from Western History: This includes two periods. The first is 27 BC to 476 AC under the Roman Empire (in 27 BC, Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire). The second period is our current post-modern, information-based, international society which shares many similarities to its ancient Roman predecessor. Some hallmarks of this culture include accumulation of debt at all levels, the appeal of multicultural and post-modern philosophies, the disassociation of the society from the consequences of its actions, and the extreme focus on entertainment. If you go back to the description of this culture above, you will see many similarities between Rome and today, just packaged differently. While the history of the Roman Empire is already written, the current one is just beginning, with strains of prior eras and cultural patterns still in place and competing. If history is a guide, the USA has 4 or maybe 5 centuries ahead for its cultural dominance to completely play itself out, likely with a major shift in two to three centuries, whether that be space travel, biotechnology, a spiritual transformation, world government, or some combination of those we can’t yet know. Surely, as dystopian science fiction suggests, the Primal Tribal era will return centuries from now, perhaps brought by war, an AI/robotic event, massive sclerotic inefficiency, and/or ecological exhaustion.
Scholarly Caveats
In case you missed it at the start, this isn’t meant as a scholarly presentation. It’s a model of culture designed to provoke discussion and act as a useful tool for writers, game designers, organizational consultants, and others.
I also think it has some merit to it as a way of organizing history that is actually not so modernist but more in the vein of complex systems theory, where all the cultures are competing within a particular society but one is dominant at a particular point in time. In fact, dynamic tension is expected. This approach sees societies as systems, not as simple two-body models such as rich versus poor, privileged versus marginalized, and so forth; those are all variables in a system of any era and location, but only three-body models are sufficiently rich to capture a fair amount of the tapestry of actual cultures.
What Can We Do?
We’re all stuck in the current cultural pattern, which is the ascendance of Decadent Imperial culture. This is true even if we’re personally trying to hold onto or push another pattern.
We can expect, as Rome saw in its transition to empire, a dramatic decline in democracy worldwide, and significant increase in the power of the presidency in the USA and the power of international bodies that empower and insulate mega-corporations and the elite in general. Bureaucracy will continue to grow dramatically, especially with automation, and the number and scope of laws and degree of censoring of views will increase to become suffocating, as they did in the late Roman period. We can also expect entertainment, patronage under the wealthy, and other imperial themes to become even more important than they are today. The quality of education and science will decrease and innovation will stall except in incremental improvements. Fortunately, all of this will not happen overnight. Emerging technologies such as fusion and quantum computing will likely mature during the transition window of opportunity. Whether space flight can succeed is unknown, as imperial societies are conserve in practice and see exploration as quaint, expensive, and even dangerous to their own status. Politically, societies will continue the march toward globalization, with arms open for diversity, since that is the nature of Imperial societies. What we can say is that two or three centuries from now, the current anti-spiritual ideological hegemony will likely die as it is replaced by something else, just as Rome saw the ascendance of Christianity over its traditional beliefs, which had lost their meaning. In the meantime, many traditions and cults around the world will emerge and thrive so long as they don't threaten the power of the elite. The one thing that's hard to predict is the role of AI, robotics, and a singularity event. That will take some years to clarify.
And if you don't like were society is headed, what can you do? Are you helpless against this tide? How can you have a meaningful impact? Keep in mind that all four cultural patterns exist simultaneously, just one is ascendant. So you can still choose one you like, though of course, if it is not the Decadent Imperial culture, you will be limited to your corner of society, whatever that will be. Generation X is the last generation in the USA to remember the pre-Imperial era (through grandparents' stories, and during their own childhoods), and as such they play a special role, though one that will likely be more in the background. All of his may sound pessimistic, but, like the passage of the seasons, winter is here, even if you don't like it. And if you do like the cultural shift, keep in mind that decadent imperial cultures are as nasty and ugly as other cultures, just in different ways. At least be aware of the downsides to avoid being purely a product of the current age. Oh, and suggestions welcome!