Poul Anderson, Harvest Of Stars, 41.
The President of the World Federation tells download Guthrie:
"'...your standards, your whole raison d'etre are no longer admissible in civilization as it has developed. Such a concentration of powers in so few hands, devoid of every social control, is no more tolerable than a pathogen in the bloodstream." (p. 393)
I agree with her.
A united Earth will phase out its trade with Fireball while duplicating space industries, using robots and (soon) conscious AIs instead of maintaining the anachronism of human personnel in space as Guthrie had done. Any physical resistance by Fireball would destroy the spirit of Fireball.
Does it make sense for a few Fireballers to leave the Solar System STL to colonize a doomed Centaurian planet? If they want to do this, then it extends the range of the human race and therefore should be encouraged.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
From an artistic or aesthetic POV, there should have been no TEXT on that flag. "United Federation of Planets" is distracting, "noisy," and redundant. The colors and symbols alike are what viewers should interpret as "United Federation of Planets."
I both agree and disagree with the Federation president. As civilization had UNFORTUNATELY developed on Earth, Fireball had become an anachronism. I disagree with that that was good. It was not good that, de facto, all real power was being concentrated in the state (soon to be, de facto, an AI doing the actual governing). That would be just as pathogenic as only a few persons holding most power.
I am glad you agree it was right for the remnants of Fireball and its supporters to leave the Solar System, to extend the range of human possibilities.
Sean
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