Commissioner Svoboda speculates:
loss of resources;
an uncontrolled reproductive obsession;
declining literacy;
rising mysticism;
unconscious revolt against steel and machines?
He keeps an open air cherry orchard on the roof of his departmental tower.
The Terrestrial population has doubled in the eighty seven years of Joshua Coffin's absence. But Svoboda is among the rulers of Earth. Why does the educational system not challenge illiteracy, irrationality and the "'...obsession to reproduce...'"? (p. 34) Educated minds are more likely to find solutions to the problem of declining resources especially since they are living in the Solar System.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I would suggest that one reason things are so bad on Earth in ORBIT UNLIMITED was because of how the World Federation had become more and more oppressive and overbearing. That inevitably means stifling more creative and forward thinking people. Including suppression of the kind of free enterprise economy needed for creating new wealth and stimulating technological innovation.
Sean
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