In the early First
Federation period, a phenomenon was noticed and named 'the
Performance Plague'. It has since appeared in a number of times and
places throughout our history. This plague is a sociochemical problem,
where the relatively short-term performance of personnel is deemed
significantly more important than their long-term performance. This is
often exemplified with the attitude of "Gotta Do It Now!" (often
abbreviated gdin, pronounced 'gid-din' or 'jee-din' in
different polities) driving the society and workplace norms. It is
believed that this attitude is at least in part derived from the urge
to maintain parity with higher sophonces. There are hints from the
pre-nanoswarm period that this compensatory attitude may have been
rampant in some second- or third- tier polities attempting to mimic the
first-tier polities at the time.
The Performance Plague typically has the following symptoms:
Stage I:
- an inferiority complex with regard to one or more neighboring
polity
- pride in the polity's accomplishments, be they actual
accomplishments or compensatory illusions
- beginnings of attempted research and development in technologies
currently 'in vogue' with the neighbor polity
Stage II:
- increasing investment in technologies and/or sciences not
immediately needed by the polity's population
- stagnating basic services for the bulk of the polity's population
- a sense of superiority regarding other polities which have not
begun such an effort is often also present at this point, if there
other polities of similar capabilities nearby.
Stage III:
- often the formation of an economic and/or social elite based on
perceived (rather real or illusory) accomplishments along the vector of
the targeted developments
- increasing resentment amongst the bulk of the population,
occasionally with violent overtones
- a driving, self-reinforcing meme that the acquisition of the
latest technology will solve the developing problems with the polity.
Stage IV:
- rebellion by non-elite members of the society, either active or
passive.
- frenzied attempts at acquiring the target technology(s) at any
cost.
- an increased oppressive polity control
Stage V:
- By this point, the polity will often self-immolate, occasionally
fissioning into two separate polities with the fracture plane mirroring
the elite/non-elite status previously enforced. Occasionally, the
polity may attempt some aggression towards neighboring polities, either
to acquire the technology(s) or resource(s) perceived to be useful
and/or required towards the goal of attaining said technology(s).
As presented to the Ken Ferjik Institute of
Sociotechnological Phenomena, 10,248 (Old Reckoning)
