A Deepness in the Sky (Zones of Thought, #2)

by Vernor Vinge

‘But Qeng Ho is just one fish in a random sea of traders… . Oh.’ Pham could see that he was finally getting through. ‘So the ‘‘culture’’ of our broadcasts would give participants a trading edge. So there would be a reinforcement effect.’ ‘Yes, yes! And we could crypto-partition the broadcasts to protect against nearby competition.’ Pham smiled slyly. The next point was something that little Pham, and probably Pham’s father the King of all Northland, could never have conceived. ‘In fact, we could even have some broadcasts in the clear. The language standards material, for instance, and the low end of our tech libraries. I’ve been reading the Customer histories. All the way back to Old Earth, the only constant is the churn, the rise of civilization, the fall, as often as not the local extinction of Humankind. Over time, Qeng Ho broadcasts could damp those swings.’