The Modern State Society is:
"...an aggressive order of religiously devoted men and women who will try out and establish and impose a new pattern of living upon our race."
-HG Wells, The Shape Of Things To Come (London, 1974), p. 493. (The very end of the novel.)
Not "impose." Also, not manipulate, as the Psychotechnic Institute tries to do.
The Polesotechnic League:
"...in the course of milking the Milky Way, did more to spread a truly universal civilization and enforce a solid Pax than all the diplomats in known history.
"Nevertheless, it had its troubles."
-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 135-173 AT p. 146.
Fireball, a private company spanning the Solar System, remains independent of governments and establishes a transnational "troth" with many of its employees.
Of these, I would prefer the Psychotechnic Institute but only if it were to operate openly and honestly.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I too have had things I "remember" but simply CAN'T recall exactly. One being a short story by, I THINK, Anderson involving two AIs negotiating a resolution of some kind of conflict. And, no, it was definitely nothing to be found in the HARVEST OF STARS books. Maddening, my inability to recall enough about the story to track it down!
Of the alternatives you listed, I would prefer the Polesotechnic League. And I would distrust the Psychotechnic Institute because such bodies would always be tempted to abuse and misuse its knowledge, abilities, power, etc.
Sean
Kaor, Sean!
I think I know what you’re talking about. In a future other than the HARVEST OF STARS one, the South American bloc uses AI to create a revived Niccolo Machiavelli to advise them in their trade war with the Europeans, who create a revived Frederick the Great to advise them. In time, the two AI personalities tell the humans who created them to cool things down, and contact each other. If I recall correctly, Machiavelli was to write the libretto of an opera, which Frederick was to compose. I remember this, but I don’t recall the title of the story, which may have been novella or novelette-length.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Kaor, Nicholas!
That MIGHT have been the story I simply can't quite recall remembering enough of to track down. I DO recall Poul Anderson writing a story featuring computerized simulations of Machiavelli and Frederick the Great. And to my vexation I can't recall that story's title if it was not the I can't quite recall. Maddening!
Regards! Sean
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