Quote:
By Upon Mars:
So the trajkovites have to invent a alternative to shaping.
No. They can merely suffer more, or if they have inept Shapers to begin with, less.
The problem with Shaping is that it requires extreme foresight and pattern recognition. The Shapers have only the foresight, if the restriction on crop modifications are enforced.
If the Shapers had the microscope technology of the Drakons, then an enormous amounts of trial and error would be avoided. However, they were apparently unable to recover the technology from two successful purgings of rebel strongholds.
For Tully, the rewarding of a job well done is essential. It's like giving a dog a bone. It's still inferior and dependent, but it gives you a way of punishment later, and will motivate future success beyond the norm.