Isaac Asimov's Hari Seldon realizes that the Galactic Empire is falling. Poul Anderson's David Falkayn realizes that the Polesotechnic League is going rotten. Anderson's Dominic Flandry realizes that the Terran Empire will fall. But what a difference between Asimov and Anderson. Anderson explains in detail how the economic competition in the League has led to injustices and, in the case of Tametha, to an armed rebellion.
Seldon establishes the Foundations to restore civilization. Falkayn founds the Supermetals Company for the economic development of the poorer planets and species and later founds the colony of Avalon outside human space. Flandry strengthens several planets so that they will survive during the Long Night.
Essentially the same subject matter but much better treatment by Anderson.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
The problem was not competition, per se, the real problem was the rise of cartels, the Home Companies in the Solar System and the Seven in Space setting up monopolies and suppressing competition. These cartels were undermining the former guiding ethos of the Polesotechnic League, which was founded to set moderate limits on competition and provide a means of arbitrating disputes.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, tho' Poul should have taken into account that most capitalists yearn for monopolies. They -put up- with competition when they have to.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I thought Anderson did say that, at least implicitly, in MIRKHEIM.
Testing.
Ad astra! Sean
i was going to say what Sean just did. In fact, it is explicit in "Lodestar" and MIRKHEIM.
In the original texts, one of the purposes of the League was to -preserve- competition; that was deleted in later versions.
Poul based the League on medieval alliances of city-states... but those were predatory and tried very hard to preserve monopolies.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I was going by memory, been reading mostly the New Testament the last couple months. Now rereading the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Mr. Stirling: I recall how Anderson had the Hanseatic League in mind as an inspiration for the Polesotechnic League. As his knowledge of Hanseatic history deepened, he became aware of how predatory the Hansa could be. One of the characters in THE MERMAN'S CHILDREN was a Danish sea captain falling on hard times because Hansa merchants were undercutting and squeezing out independent ship owners like him.
Hope this uploads.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that before the late 18th century, trade was a -- relatively -- fixed amount. You could only really prosper by taking trade away from the other players; or at least people thought that way. It was surprisingly far into the Industrial Revolution before people (Ricardo, for example) stopped thinking of the total "pie" as fixed in size, or nearly so.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And it was only because of people like Adam Smith and Ricardo that economic thought advanced from such a primitive "fixed pie" level.
Hope this uploads.
Ad astra! Sean
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