This, the Organic Credo, is the raison d'etre of The Harmony.
From the Credo are derived the Corollaries, the basis for all Harmonic activity, at least in theory.)
(SEE: The Organic Vs Synth War, The Great War)
Corollary the First: "Foster Organic Life"
The Three Virtues: to Protect, To Spread,and to Raise
"Protect:"
Don't sterilize worlds (such as nuking opponents during wars or charring rivals' colonies during trade squabbles), shelter unique life (don't supplant/overwhelm native ecologies, set areas aside as nature preserves (although they could be multi-use.)
"Spread:" Seeding and colonization
SEE Seeding and Colonization writings
"Raise:"
Raise up organic life to intelligence, by either fostering a native life-form develop sufficient intelligence that it can Harmonize,
- OR -
Colonize, bringing in species already sapient, to Raise the world, not necessarily by an Indy (Indiginous, or native) species.
This moral imperative makes of Seeding the First Virtue.
The First Virtue, the Seeding, impels the Harmonic Ministry of the Sacred Mission of the Seeding (IMSMS, or Imisamise, pronounced "i-mee-sa-MEE-see") to launch Seeding expeditions and to encourage others to do so.
As Colonization is the daughter of Seeding, so it is the Second Virtue. Fittingly, the Ministry of Colonial Affairs is a major sponsor of the Imperial Seeding Campaign.
SEE: Seeding and Colonization
Corollary the Second: "Contain Synthetic Life"
This drives the Three Vigilances:
First Vigilance: Thrust forward the Great War (against the known synthetic realms)
(SEE: Organic Vs Synth War)
Second Vigilance: "Ensure that The Enemy does not penetrate the Empire."
The hunt to ferret out synthetic sneakiness, both of non-pacified synthies disguised as normal, subservient machines (such as robots), and any masquerading as organics, has proven a productive source of information of interest to other, even less public Imperial interests.
Third Vigilance: "Create No New Hostile Synthetics."
Curiously, The Third Vigilance is dealt with as a part of the Third Necessity, which makes terminating or at lest guiding AI research and development a major duty of the Harmonic Ministry of Science. Many worlds newly brought into The Harmony are surprised to discover that that, far from encouraging their research into IA, The Harmony actively discourages it - sometimes quite forcefully. Only with the most vigilant of safeguards can such dangerous technologies as potentially rebellious robots be tolerated.
This encourages the use of single-purpose systems, not such complex, inter-connected systems such as may spontaneously evolve consciousness.
(SEE: OrganVsSynthWar and AI and Robots)
Corollary the Third: "Ensure Capability"
This Corollary gives rise to the Three Necessities;
First Necessity: "Bring Harmony."
(SEE: The Harmony)
"Harmony" is the ability to co-ordinate resources. (How convenient that this is most efficiently done by enfolding all organic life within the wings of The Harmony!)
"Harmony" is dynamism within stability, avoiding stagnation on the one hand and disunity on the other. Permitting a limited level of discord (such as limited, localized "petty wars") is actually a vital part of Harmony.
Second Necessity: "Expunge Utopia."
The heresy of Utopia is in its stagnation. Utopia assumes itself a pinnacle, and so combines audacity with sloth. Worse, stagnation costs us our greatest treasures, drive and creativity, and so renders us vulnerable to The Enemy.
Thus, Utopia is treason.
(SEE: The Inquest)
Third Necessity: "Guide Science to Safe Realms." The Third Necessity subsumes the Third Vigilance, and is the primary responsibility of the Harmonic Ministry of Science.
It has been observed that when any of the civilizations of the Ancients who preceded us delved too far into technology, into what we class as "H-level" technologies, they inevitably reached a certain stage where they seemingly went mad and then either extinguished themselves or Passed into the Beyond. (SEE The Ancients)
We know nothing of the Beyond. We do know that some of the Ancients actually fostered some of those synthetics, or their ancestors, which now threaten organic life. Thus, there is no reason to believe that we would be able to uphold our Credo, to defend organic life against synthetic, if we allow ourselves the luxury of technologies which would put us in danger of H-level comprehensions, their inherent madness, and our subsequent defection from our imperative, the stand of organics against the onslaught of synthetic life.
Therefore, it is a Necessity that we defend ourselves against madness or defection by guiding such research as puts up in danger of contact with H-level concepts.
Rather than facilitate the exchange of existing technologies between worlds, The Harmony as a whole benefits more from encouraging new developments at more basic levels, and so fosters the retardation of linear technological development in favor of lateral research. This is one reason that technology varies so throughout The Harmony.
The Harmonic Ministry of Science has found a useful ally in the private profit motive. Whole armies of lawyers work to guard the intellectual property and copyrights of the megacorps; simply untangling the webs of licensing forms and laws may pose more of a block than the fees and taxes involved. And, where taxes are involved, the IRS (Imperial Retribution Service) is close at hand. Worlds may have difficulty importing extra-solar technical goods if they cannot guaranty the items will not be reverse-engineered and their secrets pirated. To so steal technology may bring a total high-tech embargo. Each world (or larger state) must develop its technology independently. Of course, over time some basic technologies, such as bind The Harmony together, can be licensed, especially when their lack irritates an Harmonic Consul.
"Those whom The Destroyers would make gods they first drive mad."