On the Subject of Personal Possessions, and Replicator Couture

Margaret Gel
March 18th, 2022

The space aliens typically have very few possessions. But what possessions they do have are often filled with meaning. Their personal effects tend to be very sentimental items: photographs; personal possessions of deceased loved ones; war trophies, though not biological matter of enemies; and clothing and other fabrics and furniture that were bestowed unto them, usually as presents, during major life events: weddings, specifically.

I am unsure why there are not many ‘hoarders’ within their culture. Space is certainly not an issue. There are several guesses that could be ventured: that, because they’re a post-scarcity society, where anything needed can be and is regularly replicated, there is no real desire to ‘hoard’ things, as they’re all readily-available. Their longevity may also contribute to this behavior: many of them report frustration with dealing with large amounts of personal possessions, especially when they desire to move to another location. Over time, I suspect that at least a few might grow tired of certain objects, and this has a sort of ‘sieving’ effect, wherein only the most-important items are actually kept. Though, through self-reporting, they deny that such a thing ever occurs.

It might be due to their own unique culture. It may be due to a biological difference, something different from Earth lifeform behavior, in which they do not feel the need to squirrel away things, in some sort of treasure trove / mythological dragon’s ‘hoard’. However, I would like to bring forth an alternate hypothesis.

The populace of the ship I am describing (though it has no official name, it has been called many things, such as ‘Titus’, ‘Elohim’, and ‘Eden’) is predominantly of a military background. Though what Americans might call ‘civilians’ exist within the populace, most of the people living on the ship come from backgrounds in which they would have to move frequently, usually for work. This may contribute to some of their behavior regarding personal possessions. Given that a similar demographic split occurs in nearly every other colony ship on Earth, and similar behavior can be seen, I would venture a guess that this is it. If it is not, it’s at least a very good guess. The Arcadia features an extremely-similar populace, as well as similar behavior.