The World President 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 but because I want power to be democratized, not simply transferred from corporations like Fireball to a World Federation or, after that, to post-organic intelligences. Does Guthrie's response make sense? If he is unable to continue to operate as before, then he will invest all his remaining wealth in leaving the Solar System forever and in colonizing a doomed Centaurian planet. We are used to such responses in American sf - although a colony planet is not usually doomed - but would it make sense in reality? Would these be the only two alternatives? Would it not have been possible to stay and to help to build a future for human freedom within the Solar System? Guthrie's idea of freedom is him or someone like him wielding unlimited economic power. That is a major conceptual limitation.
The technicalities of the interstellar crossing are of interest. There is a limit to how long human beings can survive in suspended animation so a minimum of one-tenth light-speed will be necessary but braking at the destination will not be necessary because von Neumann machines can be sent ahead and will construct sun-powered lasers to slow the arriving ships.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I absolutely disagree with the World President. It still boils down to her claiming only the state can make decisions that matters. MY view is that power needs to be dispersed and limited, among both the public and private sectors, with no one having complete dominance. With some stress on limiting the STATE. And I think the Guthrie download would agree with me.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that government is, in its essential nature, coercive. It is the power of monopolized violence.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
As so often, you made the same point I was groping for far more clearly and sharply! And you are correct, gov't is that institution claiming the right to monopolize violence.
Ad astra! Sean
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