The Ordinary Man

The Long Way Home, CHAPTER SIX.

First read the previous post.

Has subservience been inculcated in the ordinary man since the Industrial Revolution? Where is this ordinary man? The world is full of extraordinary people!

Of course we must rely on technical experts. We cannot all be motor mechanics, computer technicians, plumbers or brain surgeons. But we soon complain when the experts get it wrong. There is a general distrust of professional politicians although not yet any general recognition of an alternative. In adversarial political systems, each of two major parties spends all of its time denouncing the other and encouraging its supporters to do the same. This does not inculcate much subservience. In dictatorial systems, there is dissent and opposition despite repression. Some people are unfortunately in prison or dead but not subservient.

There have been political upheavals since the Industrial Revolution. There are frequent mass expressions of discontent. In London alone, there have been ten national mass demonstrations on a single issue in the last five months and there will be another the day after tomorrow. Of course we can make an artificial distinction between "ordinary people" who watch television and "extremists" who demonstrate but governments know better than this. The "extremists" are a sometimes smaller, sometimes larger, subset of "ordinary people." These are not two different populations. On any large demonstration, many people are demonstrating for their first time and, of course, a large demonstration also represents a larger although indeterminate number of people in agreement with it. "Ordinary people" can play some role in shifting governments and in changing the conditions in which they live.

So, again, what would liberation be? There is no need for genetically engineered slaves, however efficient or contented. There is plenty of scope for robots and automatic production. A liberated population would, at least:

be technologically liberated from drudgery;

be engaged in activities transcending the distinction that we still have to make between fulfilling work on the one hand and meaningful recreation on the other;

be informed, educated and involved enough to participate in public discussion, elections and referenda on common issues, all this facilitated by the widespread use of information and communications  technology;

at the same time, enjoy full privacy and autonomy as individuals.

On the second point above, I am a pensioner. This means, in effect, that the state and my previous employer (also the state!) pay me to live, breathe, exercise, socialize, philosophize, meditate, read books, lobby the City Council and blog about Poul Anderson. I could try to make some of these activities a source of further income but don't need to. We can build a culture more amenable to people and their needs. The Solar Technate in The Long Way Home certainly has the capacity to start moving in that direction but is ruled by "the strong" and by professional psychotechnicians. Surely some of the latter group can see a better way forward?