Tuesday 15 June 2021

No Quadrillionaire...

"Starfog."

Daven Laure explains: 

economic planning is impossible for a continent, let alone an interstellar civilization;

however, the market operates as automatically, efficiently, impersonally and ruthlessly as gravity;

"'...we didn't makes this universe. We only live in it...'" (p. 771) echoes comments made by Dominic Flandry and Manse Everard;

no quadrillionaire, foundation, government or consortium can afford to search for Kirkasant;

resources are divided among too many people with already existing obligations;

taxation is impossible on such a scale;

there is no way to solicit enough voluntary donations from so big a civilization with so many needier cases.

As with the Solar Commonwealth and the Terran Empire, I would like to read a novel about people living and working at the heart of civilization instead of on its fringes.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

If Elon Musk can truly get mankind off this rock in a real way, he would deserve to become a quadrillionaire!

And, as we know, Daven Laure found a way for the home planet of the lost Kirkasanters to be found relatively quickly.

Ad astra! Sean