bam@bigbang.UUCP (Bret A. Marquis) (09/24/86)
I'm looking for pointers to (science) fiction works along the lines of L. Neil Smith et al. Particularly those books dealing with Anarcho/libertaria. Bret Marquis (sdcsvax, akgua!crash) bigbang!bam bam@nosc.arpa
michaelm@3comvax.UUCP (Michael McNeil) (09/30/86)
I'm posting this 'cause return mail bounced: >I'm looking for pointers to (science) fiction works along the >lines of L. Neil Smith et al. Particularly those books dealing >with Anarcho/libertaria. > >Bret Marquis >(sdcsvax, akgua!crash) bigbang!bam >bam@nosc.arpa You may already have heard of these, but I would say that two of the best of this genre are The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein Michael McNeil 3Com Corporation (usual disclaimers) Santa Clara, California {hplabs|fortune|idi|ihnp4|tolerant|allegra|glacier|olhqma} !oliveb!3comvax!michaelm "Of course they answer to their names?" the Gnat remarked carelessly. "I never knew them to do it," [said Alice.] "What's the use of their having names," said the Gnat, "if they won't answer to them?" Lewis Carroll, *Through the Looking Glass* -- Michael McNeil 3Com Corporation Santa Clara, California {hplabs|fortune|idi|ihnp4|tolerant|allegra|glacier|olhqma} !oliveb!3comvax!michaelm The bird a nest, The spider a web, Man friendship. William Blake
dand@tekigm.UUCP (10/02/86)
Take a stab at Mack Reynolds, and his various "X in the 21st Century", such as "Reality in the 21st Century" and like that. His political system is what he calls a "technocracy", but actually appears to be a one-buck:one-vote sort of system, where those who control the wealth control the country (in other words, you don't work, you got no say....ooooh, listen to the knee-jerk liberals snapping to attention out there: come on, kids, it's a STORY.) The more interesting part is his idea of each citizen getting so many shares of BASIC stock in the country, which they cannot sell, the dividends of which they may use in any manner they desire. If you have any money left from whatever partying you do, you may buy shares of VARIABLE STOCK, which also pays dividends, but you may sell whenever you wish. In other words, if you are carefull with your earnings, you may buy more VARIABLE, increasing your income, allowing to save faster or to be a bit less frugal. In other words, it's your money; do with it as you see fit and you're on your own, George. Perhaps not as libertarian as one might hope, but perhaps as much as we'll ever see while corporations wield the power of the mighty shekel. Dan C Duval ISI Engineering Tektronix, Inc. tektronix!tekigm!dand
rissa@chinet.UUCP (Garret and Trish) (10/03/86)
You might like "Floating Worlds" by Cecilia Holland, though it's about anarchy (among other things) and not libertarianism. Princess Patricia
radford@calgary.UUCP (Radford Neal) (10/06/86)
In article <951@tekigm.UUCP>, dand@tekigm.UUCP writes: > Take a stab at Mack Reynolds, and his various "X in the 21st Century", > such as "Reality in the 21st Century" and like that. His political > system is what he calls a "technocracy", but actually appears to > be a one-buck:one-vote sort of system, where those who control the > wealth control the country... I don't think I've read "Reality in the 21st Century", but I've read others in this series. I would not consider the political systems portrayed in Mack Reynolds' fiction to be at all libertarian. I think "Fascist" might be a better description. By this I mean a polical system in which at least a facade of private ownership is maintained, but in which all important economic decisions are decided by political, not market, forces. My memory of the details of Mack Reynolds' societies is vague; for that matter, I'm not sure he describes the political system in detail. I *am* sure of my recollections regarding the general tone of his philosophy, (technically, the philosophy of his characters, but this is so consistent from novel to novel that he must either agree with it, or at least think it is inevitable). This tone is distinctly non-libertarian. An example I remember, from a book called something like "The Lagrangists": The hero, a private investigator, I think, is recruited to solve the problems of some space colony. Which he does. At the end he is quite tempted to join the colony, but doesn't. The reason? The colony restricts immigration to people of a certain intelligence level, which he doesn't meet. It seems possible that the colonists would make an exception in his case, but he thinks they should stick to their principles, so he foregoes the opportunity. Apparently, this is not a satire; Reynolds seems to think this sort of elitism is good. The question that immediately comes to my mind, of course, is why these intelligent people couldn't solve their own problems. This attachment to non-objective status criteria is reminiscent of feudalism. It is quite foreign to libertarianism. Radford Neal
dbs9765@ritcv.UUCP (John T. Sanders) (10/07/86)
To Bret Marquis - For anarcho-libertarian science fiction, both old and new, the best source by far is the Libertarian Futurist Society. The LFS newsletter, _Prometheus_, prints dozens of reviews of such stuff, along with related articles and correspondence from and among LFS-ers. In addition, LFS gives the annual Prometheus Award to best new libertarian fiction, and a Hall of Fame award too. These are big enough deals to get presented at the World SF Conventions (Frederick Pohl was a presenter this year of the Hall of Fame award to Cyril Kornblueth), and the words "Prometheus Award Winner" appear on the covers of several past winners. For more info, write to LFS 121 McKinley St. Rochester, NY 14609.