Here's another not-so-little irony of Keltham's life, one that he'll probably never have a chance to learn now:  When Keltham reached age 20, and Civilization began to reveal to him the subsidy it would pay to him to have kids -

- as is kept obscured, until the socially-usual childbearing age of 20, for obvious-to-a-dath-ilani reasons; you don't go around telling eight-year-kids that secret prediction markets expect that Civilization won't particularly want any more of their kind enough to pay for it.  That could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And then if you tell the other kids that Civilization probably does want more of them, the silence is conspicuous for those who aren't being told.  Judgments like that aren't final to begin with; sometimes, indeed rather often, kids turn out differently than expected.  These are not confident prediction markets.  It has not been found to be fun for kids, if you tell them that unconfident prediction.  This too is information-that-harms-the-hearer, better-not-to-know if you're not a Keeper; and the only way to be silent about it to some kids, is to be silent about it to all of them -

- Civilization would have told Keltham that they did, in fact, want more of him.  He's selfish-honorable instead of altruistic, yes, and that's a little weird; he's a bit less reflective than the average dath ilani, and that's bad; but he also experiences emotions more strongly, has stronger drive, than the average dath ilani, and that matters a lot.  This organism is made happy more easily; he's happier than you'd expect for a self-conceived misfit.  It would have outweighed his selfishness, in the eyes of what Civilization had voted on as its future targets; and it would not have been lost on Civilization that maybe that higher-selfishness business is correlated with the other parts.  It's definitely the sort of interesting mindstate where, if nothing else, you'd like him to have four kids out of sheer curiosity to find out if the traits stay correlated in his children.

Here's another not-so-little irony of Keltham's life, one that he'll probably never have a chance to learn now:  When Keltham reached age 20, and Civilization first revealed to him the subsidy it would pay to him to have kids -

- as is kept obscured, until the socially-usual childbearing age of 20, for obvious-to-a-dath-ilani reasons; you don't go around telling eight-year-kids that secret prediction markets expect that Civilization won't particularly want any more of their kind enough to pay for it.  That could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And then if you tell the other kids that Civilization probably does want more of them, the silence is conspicuous for those who aren't being told.  Judgments like that aren't final to begin with; sometimes, indeed rather often, kids turn out differently than expected.  These are not confident prediction markets.  It has not been found to be fun for kids, if you tell them that unconfident prediction.  This too is information-that-harms-the-hearer, better-not-to-know if you're not a Keeper; and the only way to be silent about it to some kids, is to be silent about it to all of them -

- Civilization would have told Keltham that they did, in fact, want more of him.  He's selfish-honorable instead of altruistic, yes, and that's a little weird; he's a bit less reflective than the average dath ilani, and that's bad; but he also experiences emotions more strongly, has stronger drive, than the average dath ilani, and that matters a lot.  This organism is made happy more easily; he's happier than you'd expect for a self-conceived misfit.  It would have outweighed his selfishness, in the eyes of what Civilization had voted on as its future targets; and it would not have been lost on Civilization that maybe that higher-selfishness business is correlated with the other parts.  It's definitely the sort of interesting mindstate where, if nothing else, you'd like him to have four kids out of sheer curiosity to find out if the traits stay correlated in his children.

Here's another not-so-little irony of Keltham's life, one that he'll probably never have a chance to learn now:  When Keltham reached age 20, and Civilization first revealed to him the subsidy it would pay to him to have kids -

- as is kept obscured, until the socially-usual childbearing age of 20, for obvious-to-a-dath-ilani reasons; you don't go around telling eight-year-kids that secret prediction markets expect that Civilization won't particularly want any more of their kind enough to pay for it.  That could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And then if you tell the other kids that Civilization probably does want more of them, the silence is conspicuous for those who aren't being told.  Judgments like that aren't final to begin with; sometimes, indeed rather often, kids turn out differently than expected.  These are not confident prediction markets.  It has not been found to be fun for kids, if you tell them that unconfident prediction.  This too is information-that-harms-the-hearer, better-not-to-know if you're not a Keeper; and the only way to be silent about it to some kids, is to be silent about it to all of them -

- Civilization would have told Keltham that they did, in fact, want more of him.  He's shifted honorably-selfish away from altruistic, yes, and that's a little weird; he's a bit less reflective than the average dath ilani, and that's bad; but he also experiences emotions more strongly, has stronger drive, than the average dath ilani, and that matters a lot.  This organism is made happy more easily; he's happier than you'd expect for a self-conceived misfit.  It would have outweighed his selfishness, in the eyes of what Civilization had voted on as its future targets; and it would not have been lost on Civilization that maybe that higher-selfishness business is correlated with the other parts.  It's definitely the sort of interesting mindstate where, if nothing else, you'd like him to have four kids out of sheer curiosity to find out if the traits stay correlated in his children.

Here's another not-so-little irony of Keltham's life, one that he'll probably never have a chance to learn now:  When Keltham reached age 20, and Civilization first revealed to him the subsidy it would pay to him to have kids -

- as is kept obscured, until the socially-usual childbearing age of 20, for obvious-to-a-dath-ilani reasons; you don't go around telling eight-year-kids that secret prediction markets expect that Civilization won't want more of them, or not enough to pay for it.  That could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And then if you tell the other kids that Civilization probably does want more of them, the silence is conspicuous for those who aren't being told.  Judgments like that aren't final to begin with; sometimes, indeed rather often, kids turn out differently than expected.  These are not confident prediction markets.  It has not been found to be fun for kids, if you tell them that unconfident prediction.  This too is information-that-harms-the-hearer, better not to know if you're not a Keeper.  And the only way to be silent about it to some kids, is to be silent about it to all of them -

- Civilization would have told Keltham that they did, in fact, want more of him.  He's shifted honorably-selfish away from altruistic, yes, and that's a little weird; he's noticeably less reflective than the average dath ilani, and that's bad; but he also experiences emotions more strongly, has stronger drive, than the average dath ilani, and that matters a lot.  This organism is made happy more easily; he's happier than you'd expect for a self-conceived misfit.  It would have outweighed his selfishness, in the eyes of what Civilization had voted on as its future targets; and the possibility would not have been lost on Civilization that maybe that higher-selfishness business was correlated with the happiness part.

It's definitely the sort of interesting mindstate where, if nothing else, you'd like him to have four kids out of sheer curiosity, to find out if the traits stay correlated in his children.

Here's another not-so-little irony of Keltham's life, one that he'll probably never have a chance to learn now:  When Keltham reached age 20, and Civilization's institutions first revealed to him the net subsidy that all interested parties would pay to him to have kids -

- as is kept obscured, until the socially-usual childbearing age of 20, for obvious-to-a-dath-ilani reasons; you don't go around telling eight-year-kids that secret prediction markets expect that Civilization won't want more of them, or not enough to pay for it.  That could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And then if you tell the other kids that Civilization probably does want more of them, the silence is conspicuous for those who aren't being told.  Judgments like that aren't final to begin with; sometimes, indeed rather often, kids turn out differently than expected.  These are not confident prediction markets.  It has not been found to be fun for kids, if you tell them that unconfident prediction.  This too is information-that-harms-the-hearer, better not to know if you're not a Keeper.  And the only way to be silent about it to some kids, is to be silent about it to all of them -

- Civilization would have told Keltham that they did, in fact, want more of him.  He's shifted honorably-selfish away from altruistic, yes, and that's a little weird; he's noticeably less reflective than the average dath ilani, and that's bad; but he also experiences emotions more strongly, has stronger drive, than the average dath ilani, and that matters a lot.  This organism is made happy more easily; he's happier than you'd expect for a self-conceived misfit.  It would have outweighed his selfishness, in the eyes of what Civilization considered its future targets; and the possibility would not have been lost on Civilization that maybe that higher-selfishness business was correlated with the happiness part.

It's definitely the sort of interesting mindstate where, if nothing else, you'd like him to have four kids out of sheer curiosity, to find out if the traits stay correlated in his children.