One Hellenic milieu emulation, commencing about 500 BCE, was "'...as historically accurate as possible.'" (Genesis, p. 175)
However:
except for the few people mentioned in the records, the population must "...be created out of Gaia's imagination, guided by knowledge and logic..." (ibid.);
even the named individuals were newly created because their DNA is not known;
Gaia repeatedly rewrote the program, including everyone's memories, to prevent history from going completely off course;
neither Alexander nor Aristotle was born;
another conqueror lived into old age, bequeathing an empire;
he was taught by another, more empirically inclined, Platonic disciple, specifically designed by Gaia to find out whether the Greeks could have a scientific revolution.
They did but things went wrong because of "[u]nwise social and fiscal policies..." (p. 180)
They created more wealth but overreached themselves by spending it too quickly? Equal incomes are impossible until there is a much larger surplus of wealth but surely something can be done to improve the lot of even the lowest so that they support the social structure instead of resenting and opposing it? Ranged against this are:
the interests of the powerful;
a lack of common purpose in society as a whole.
How many important questions arise from reading a single Poul Anderson novel?
2 comments:
Hi, Paul!
As you probably recall, I get impatient with talk about "economic inequality." Because there ALWAYS will be inequality of income due to the simple facth that eveyrone is different from everyone else. Some will be wiser, more frugal, forethoughtful, or merely luckier than others, etc. That's a simple, observable, every day FACT.
No, the best way to have as wide a distribution of wealth as possible is for society to be free enterprise orient and that the state has severe and strct limits on its powers. Yes, I know, you don't agree, at least not wholly! (Smiles)
Sean
I don't insist on economic equality, but I like the idea of Universal Basic Income, so that the bottom you can land on due to bad luck or bad decisions still leaves you able to recover.
Post a Comment