Page 34 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

The Planetary Steward

“Wait a minute,” said Hydrargyrum Diggers. “You guys!
Impenetrable algorithms and a fight to the finish are all very
fascinating to a certain type of sci-fi fan, but we’re losing the
relationship angle in that Götterdämmerung. There may be only
two ways to solve the conundrum of the Planetary Steward, but
Jack and Jill don’t have to end as either Romeo and Juliet or
Victoria and Albert. Apart from one convincing the other of the
rightness of his or her position, they could change sides over the
course of the story, one could sacrifice his or her life for the other’s
cause, or they could become deadly adversaries with unpredictable
consequences. Maybe each could make discoveries affecting the
other’s lives or causes, and be forced to make a decision that could
change the course of history. I favor the eternal yin-and-yang of
male-female interactions: that means I’d like to read this story and
not have a resolution of anything. That would reflect reality.
Struggle continues, and its primary value is educational for those
who are not destroyed by it.”
“That’s pretty grim, whether you know it or not,” said Fred
Feghootsky. “Maybe the planet can move on from its present chaos
only with a cybernetic nanny; maybe not. But what should the
Planetary Steward be trying to inculcate in its human charges,
generation after generation? That is of interest to me, whether it
succeeds or fails. I think there is a message to mankind you can
send with this story; it’s not a new one, but a fresh context can give
it contemporary relevance. I refer to the simple idea that links
psychobiology with sociopolitics: can humanity really live in peace?
And how much harmony would there have to be to accomplish that
goal? Are liberty, equality and fraternity incompatible? The freedom
of self-determining liberty, given the twenty-first-century reality of
Earth’s condition, cannot remain without destroying everything of
value on the planet; and the freedom of equal justice and mutually
beneficial relations between people cannot come into existence
unless liberty is subsumed in their constraints. Theoretically, liberty
could expand as equality and fraternity become universal: never the
other way around. So your mismatched couple, standing in for the
rest of us, could try to solve that problem, without benefit of gurus

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