"What did they individually think about the prospect of humankind getting the freedom of the cosmos? Doubtless they'd say that was a great idea...until some neo-collectivist gave them an estimate of the social cost."
-Poul Anderson, The Avatar (London, 1985), IV, p. 30.
Oh, come off it! Surely the freedom of the cosmos could only be an unqualified social good? Surely also human labor plus advanced technology will soon create so much collective wealth that each individual will be able to realize his/her fullest potential?
Anderson's characters perpetuate outmoded ideological conflicts - but that is precisely what people do. What I appreciate in The Avatar is the cosmic exploration, not the political repression and resistance.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Conservative pessimist that I am, I would say rather that the freedom of the cosmos, while it would be a great GOOD, will also inevitably come with some COSTS. But my belief is that the benefits would outweigh the costs.
And I don't believe, even given a post scarcity economy, that every human being will even try to realize his fullest potential, actual or possible. Rather, I think we would see something like what is described by PA in "Quixote and the Windmill," many people feeling unhappy, useless, marginalized, etc. Because the kind of society and economy seen in that story has little or no need for them--and also because such people will often have no inclination to be philosophers, aesthetes, scientists, scholars, artists, etc. Or even to be chess players and critics of science fiction!
My view is that the best solution would be for there to be an outlet for such persons, preferably to colonize planets where, for a long time, the colonists could not afford to use the most advanced technology. Unhappy, marginalized people could still good and useful work on such worlds. And the existence of a frontier would help to stabilize the advanced planets, because unhappy persons could leave them for the new colonies.
And I EXPECT conflict over "outmoded" ideas and ideologies to continue in the future. Because that is simply what real people are like.
Sean
Sean,
People born in an abundance economy will have different expectations and satisfactions from those born before it. I think that the problems you highlight would be transitional, not permanent. There is nothing unchanging in humanity. We evolve and change and are rising, not Fallen.
I think that potentially we have an abundance economy already. However, ALL governments waste resources, e.g., by stockpiling weapons and, in several cases, instruments of genocide. Production is organized to maximize profit, not to address needs. Thus, needs are not met although the means to meet them exist.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I certainly don't object to a post scarcity economy, assuming it is POSSIBLE. But that first requires mankind getting off this rock to settle other worlds or at least O'Neill habitats. Because we would need to develop the resources and possibilities to be found in space.
I still disagree as regards what you said about human beings. I see no reason to expect them to be different what people are now: flawed and prone to error, folly, or sheer evil, etc. Iow, a FALLEN race.
Considering how many nasty and evil regimes and fanatical power hungry ideologues we still have, I'm darn glad some tolerably decent regimes like the UK and US stockpiled weapons, including nukes. Because we might NEED them.
I also disagree with this: "Production is organized to maximize profit, not to address needs." How ELSE are needs going to addressed if entrepreneurs and businesses of all kinds don't supply them? And they won't do that if they can't get a profit from doing so. Nor is that bad. Profit is merely the reward, the PAY an entrepreneur/firm gets from successfully meeting the needs and wishes of their customers. They supply the means needed to meeting those needs.
If a businessman invents a wildly efficient and satisfactory mousetrap and gets a billion dollars (or pounds) for the mousetrap, then he has satisfied the needs of his customers. Then he and those who invested money in manufacturing the mousetrap has earned those profits.
Sean
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