Return to Answer

Sentimental Value

The more primitive civilization can't produce anything better than the spacefaring one can; that's why they want to trade in the first place. However, people do not always buy things based solely on quality. There are also many soft, sentimental factors that go into things. Here are a few IRL examples that I think would hold true in your universe as well:

• "Organic" produce. Your advanced civilization's hydroponic skyscraper farms produce all the food it needs, at low cost and near-perfect quality. However, some people are under the misconception that the synthetic soils and pesticides used in these factory-farms are harmful. Entrepreneurs encourage this delusion, touting how the primitive culture's produce is produced Naturally^TM; their apples may be wormy and partially rotten, but at least they won't give you cancer and make your kids autistic. The same thing goes for art; it's handmade (and therefore unique), not "mass-produced [expurgated]."

• Beautiful art. Your ultra-modern space civilization is just that: ultra-modern. As a result, they've taken IRL modern culture's deadly relativism up to eleven. Their relativism poisons their art, such that most of it is either derivative^[1], variously nihilistic, repetitive, absurd, or just plain ugly.^[2] Your primitive, decidedly not modern culture has yet to go over the Line of Despair, so it continues to produce beautiful art and music.

• Cultural crafts. Regardless of the quality of their own art, people from the space-civilization value the primitive civilization's jewelry and ornamental doodads.

TL;DR: The spacefaring civilization values the primitive civilization's stuff because it is primitive.

^{[1] To clarify: by "derivative" art, I am referring to the sort of mass-produced stuff you see and hear in waiting rooms.}

^{[2] Explaining why relativism and existentialism inevitably cause horrible art would roughly double the length of this answer. I'll explain in the comments if asked; otherwise, suffice it to say that it does.}

Sentimental Value

The more primitive civilization can't produce anything better than the spacefaring one can; that's why they want to trade in the first place. However, people do not always buy things based solely on quality. There are also many soft, sentimental factors that go into things. Here are a few IRL examples that I think would hold true in your universe as well:

• "Organic" produce. Your advanced civilization's hydroponic skyscraper farms produce all the food it needs, at low cost and near-perfect quality. However, some people are under the misconception that the synthetic soils and pesticides used in these factory-farms are harmful. Entrepreneurs encourage this delusion, touting how the primitive culture's produce is produced Naturally^TM; their apples may be wormy and partially rotten, but at least they won't give you cancer and make your kids autistic. The same thing goes for art; it's handmade (and therefore unique), not "mass-produced [expurgated]."

• Beautiful art. Your ultra-modern space civilization is just that: ultra-modern. As a result, they've taken IRL modern culture's deadly relativism up to eleven. Their relativism poisons their art, such that most of it is either derivative^[1], variously nihilistic, repetitive, absurd, or just plain ugly.^[2] Your primitive, decidedly not modern culture has yet to go over the Line of Despair, so it continues to produce beautiful art and music.

• Cultural crafts. Regardless of the quality of their own art, people from the space-civilization value the primitive civilization's jewelry and ornamental doodads. Note that they aren't valuing it because of any especially good craftsmanship, which would fall under #2; rather, they like it because it's unusual and "ethnic".

TL;DR: The spacefaring civilization values the primitive civilization's stuff because it is primitive.

^{[1] To clarify: by "derivative" art, I am referring to the sort of mass-produced stuff you see and hear in waiting rooms.}

^{[2] Explaining why relativism and existentialism inevitably cause horrible art would roughly double the length of this answer. I'll explain in the comments if asked; otherwise, suffice it to say that it does.}

Sentimental Value

The more primitive civilization can't produce anything better than the spacefaring one can; that's why they want to trade in the first place. However, people many people do not buy things based solely on quality. There are also many soft, sentimental factors that go into things. Here are a few IRL examples that I think would hold true in your universe as well:

• "Organic" produce. Your advanced civilization's hydroponic skyscraper farms produce all the food it needs, at low cost and near-perfect quality. However, some people are under the misconception that the synthetic soils and pesticides used in these factory-farms are harmful. Entrepreneurs encourage this delusion, touting how the primitive culture's produce is produced Naturally^TM; their apples may be wormy and partially rotten, but at least they won't give you cancer and make your kids autistic. The same thing goes for art; it's handmade (and therefore unique), not "mass-produced [expurgated]."

• Beautiful art. Your ultra-modern space civilization is just that: ultra-modern. As a result, they've taken IRL modern culture's deadly relativism up to eleven. Their relativism poisons their art, such that most of it is either derivative^[1], variously nihilistic, repetitive, absurd, or just plain ugly.^[2] Your primitive, decidedly not modern culture has yet to go over the Line of Despair, so it continues to produce beautiful art and music.

• Cultural crafts. Regardless of the quality of their own art, people from the space-civilization value the primitive civilization's jewelry and ornamental doodads.

TL;DR: The spacefaring civilization values the primitive civilization's stuff because it is primitive.

^{[1] To clarify: by "derivative" art, I am referring to the sort of mass-produced stuff you see and hear in waiting rooms.}

^{[2] Explaining why relativism and existentialism inevitably cause horrible art would roughly double the length of this answer. I'll explain in the comments if asked; otherwise, suffice it to say that it does.}

Sentimental Value

The more primitive civilization can't produce anything better than the spacefaring one can; that's why they want to trade in the first place. However, people do not always buy things based solely on quality. There are also many soft, sentimental factors that go into things. Here are a few IRL examples that I think would hold true in your universe as well:

• "Organic" produce. Your advanced civilization's hydroponic skyscraper farms produce all the food it needs, at low cost and near-perfect quality. However, some people are under the misconception that the synthetic soils and pesticides used in these factory-farms are harmful. Entrepreneurs encourage this delusion, touting how the primitive culture's produce is produced Naturally^TM; their apples may be wormy and partially rotten, but at least they won't give you cancer and make your kids autistic. The same thing goes for art; it's handmade (and therefore unique), not "mass-produced [expurgated]."

• Beautiful art. Your ultra-modern space civilization is just that: ultra-modern. As a result, they've taken IRL modern culture's deadly relativism up to eleven. Their relativism poisons their art, such that most of it is either derivative^[1], variously nihilistic, repetitive, absurd, or just plain ugly.^[2] Your primitive, decidedly not modern culture has yet to go over the Line of Despair, so it continues to produce beautiful art and music.

• Cultural crafts. Regardless of the quality of their own art, people from the space-civilization value the primitive civilization's jewelry and ornamental doodads.

TL;DR: The spacefaring civilization values the primitive civilization's stuff because it is primitive.

^{[1] To clarify: by "derivative" art, I am referring to the sort of mass-produced stuff you see and hear in waiting rooms.}

^{[2] Explaining why relativism and existentialism inevitably cause horrible art would roughly double the length of this answer. I'll explain in the comments if asked; otherwise, suffice it to say that it does.}

Sentimental Value

The more primitive civilization can't produce anything better than the spacefaring one can; that's why they want to trade in the first place. However, people many people do not buy things based solely on quality. There are also many soft, sentimental factors that go into things. Here are a few IRL examples that I think would hold true in your universe as well:

• "Organic" produce. Your advanced civilization's hydroponic skyscraper farms produce all the food it needs, at low cost and near-perfect quality. However, some people are under the misconception that the synthetic soils and pesticides used in these factory-farms are harmful. Entrepreneurs encourage this delusion, touting how the primitive culture's produce is produced Naturally^TM; their apples may be wormy and partially rotten, but at least they won't give you cancer and make your kids autistic. The same thing goes for art; it's handmade (and therefore unique), not "mass-produced [expurgated]."

• Beautiful art. Your ultra-modern space civilization is just that: ultra-modern. As a result, they've taken IRL modern culture's deadly relativism up to eleven. Their relativism poisons their art, such that most of it is either derivative, nihilistic, absurd, or just plain ugly.^[1] Your primitive, decidedly not modern culture has yet to go over the Line of Despair, so it continues to produce beautiful art and music.

• Cultural crafts. Regardless of the quality of their own art, people from the space-civilization value the primitive civilization's jewelry and ornamental doodads.

TL;DR: The spacefaring civilization values the primitive civilization's stuff because it is primitive.

^{[1] Explaining why relativism and existentialism inevitably cause horrible art would roughly double the length of this answer. I'll explain in the comments if asked; otherwise, suffice it to say that it does.}

Sentimental Value

The more primitive civilization can't produce anything better than the spacefaring one can; that's why they want to trade in the first place. However, people many people do not buy things based solely on quality. There are also many soft, sentimental factors that go into things. Here are a few IRL examples that I think would hold true in your universe as well:

• "Organic" produce. Your advanced civilization's hydroponic skyscraper farms produce all the food it needs, at low cost and near-perfect quality. However, some people are under the misconception that the synthetic soils and pesticides used in these factory-farms are harmful. Entrepreneurs encourage this delusion, touting how the primitive culture's produce is produced Naturally^TM; their apples may be wormy and partially rotten, but at least they won't give you cancer and make your kids autistic. The same thing goes for art; it's handmade (and therefore unique), not "mass-produced [expurgated]."

• Beautiful art. Your ultra-modern space civilization is just that: ultra-modern. As a result, they've taken IRL modern culture's deadly relativism up to eleven. Their relativism poisons their art, such that most of it is either derivative^[1], variously nihilistic, repetitive, absurd, or just plain ugly.^[2] Your primitive, decidedly not modern culture has yet to go over the Line of Despair, so it continues to produce beautiful art and music.

• Cultural crafts. Regardless of the quality of their own art, people from the space-civilization value the primitive civilization's jewelry and ornamental doodads.

TL;DR: The spacefaring civilization values the primitive civilization's stuff because it is primitive.

^{[1] To clarify: by "derivative" art, I am referring to the sort of mass-produced stuff you see and hear in waiting rooms.}

^{[2] Explaining why relativism and existentialism inevitably cause horrible art would roughly double the length of this answer. I'll explain in the comments if asked; otherwise, suffice it to say that it does.}