Barast always consider their work in terms of how it contributes to society, and any work which does not contribute sufficiently is stopped. This leads to a lack of knowledge in certain areas, such as astrophysics, as such pursuits are stopped once they ceased to produce meaningful improvements in ordinary life. This also leads to some over-specialization, as driving is considered a specialized contribution and how to do so is known only to public conveyors whose sole contribution is to taxi people from point to point or to drive public buses. Occasionally, a Barast may voluntarily remove themselves from society in order to continue work that has been deemed not meaningful or to protest when work is purposefully stopped as dangerous. This individual would move away from the community to an isolated area, and would thereafter support themselves. They would not be able to generally ask for assistance from the greater community, and would also in some cases remove their Alibi Archive implant as protest (so their life after leaving the community would not be recorded) or have it removed involuntarily (to prevent any further recording regarding dangerous work). This isolation is voluntary, and they can have visitors or opt to return to the community at any time, although returning requires that they resume providing a meaningful contribution (and cease any dangerous work, if that was the reason for leaving). Barast medicine has become largely automated, and most doctors, aside from first aid (excepting researchers), simply operate and maintain this technology. This technology is highly robust and is able to be adapted to Gliksin physiology fairly quickly after contact. A notable difference in medical practice is a result of the lack of squeamishness displayed by the Barast. Rather than using anesthesia for surgery, this technology uses direct neural blocks to cut off signals from any body part being operated on while the operation is performed in full view of the doctor and the patient being operated on. The Barast do not find this disturbing in the least, which one Gliksin theorizes is because, as they are still a civilization completely composed of active hunters, they have been exposed to such scenes since childhood. The Barasts have no religion and no concept of religion. This is not due to a simple disbelief or worldwide atheism. The Barasts never had a religion and are not physically capable of believing in a god or gods or having religious experiences due to the structure of their brains. Prior to contact between the gliksins and the Barasts, the Barasts had no concept of a creator; an afterlife or souls never occurred to them. The Barasts do not understand how the gliksins can possibly believe in the stories their religions tell, and are sometimes frustrated with the gliksins' insistence of the truth of their beliefs.