wab@reed.UUCP (William Baker) (04/08/85)
I was reading somewheres that President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, .i.e. "Star Wars", had split a great many interest groups, including science fiction writers. The article said that Isaac Asimov had come out against the initiative and Robert Heinlein for it. I knew that Heinlein was still writing, but I didn't know that he was still politically active as he was in the 50's and 60's. Has anyone seen an article with such statements attributed to him? If so, I would certainly like a pointer to it. I am not surprised that he would take such a stand, but he has been misquoted in the past and I would like to see just what it was that he said. Bill Baker tektronix!reed!wab
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (04/09/85)
> The article > said that Isaac Asimov had come out against the initiative and > Robert Heinlein for it. Great. Advice on space defense from people who refuse to set foot in an airplane. Okay, okay, in Asimov's case "refuse" might be a bit strong... how about "goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid"? -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
rohn@randvax.UUCP (Laurinda Rohn) (04/11/85)
> from Bill Baker > I was reading somewheres that President Reagan's Strategic > Defense Initiative, .i.e. "Star Wars", had split a great many > interest groups, including science fiction writers. The article > said that Isaac Asimov had come out against the initiative and > Robert Heinlein for it. I knew that Heinlein was still writing, but > I didn't know that he was still politically active as he was in the > 50's and 60's. > Has anyone seen an article with such statements attributed > to him? If so, I would certainly like a pointer to it. I am not > surprised that he would take such a stand, but he has been misquoted > in the past and I would like to see just what it was that he said. I don't know of any particular quotes offhand from Mr. Heinlein, but I am sure he has made some to that effect. He is active in the High Frontier PAC, which is the pro-SDI political action committee. Lauri rohn@rand-unix.ARPA ..decvax!randvax!rohn "I told you when I met you I was crazy..."
long@oliveb.UUCP (A Panther Modern) (04/13/85)
| > The article | > said that Isaac Asimov had come out against the initiative and | > Robert Heinlein for it. | | Great. Advice on space defense from people who refuse to set foot | in an airplane. Great. Sarcasm from people who refuse to notice that there is no logical connection between refusal to set foot in airplanes and quality of view on SDI. -- gnoL evaD Beware of {msoft,allegra,gsgvax,fortune,hplabs,idi,ios, Black ICE nwuxd,ihnp4,tolrnt,tty3b,vlsvax1,zehntel}!oliveb!long
ph@wudma.UUCP (04/13/85)
> > The article > > said that Isaac Asimov had come out against the initiative and > > Robert Heinlein for it. > > Great. Advice on space defense from people who refuse to set foot > in an airplane. > > Okay, okay, in Asimov's case "refuse" might be a bit strong... how > about "goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid"? And in Heinlein's case it is at least a byte strong--in fact, I've never heard ANY evidence that he has any technophobic fear of flying; I thought he had done it many times. In any case wouldn't such a fear be pretty silly in a man who hopes to live long enough to buy a commercial ticket to the moon? --pH /* * "Pardon me for breathing, which I don't do anyway so I don't * know why I bother apologising for it, oh GOD I'm so depressed." */
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (04/15/85)
Can you keep a secret??? I hope so. Don't let on, but I have to
admit I made a terrible mistake in saying that Robert Heinlein wouldn't
fly. Now for pete's sake don't tell anyone I screwed up -- I've got
a reputation to worry about. :-)
I was thinking of another old-time SF author. His name escapes me now,
but it's probably just as well because the folks on net.sf-lovers would
tear me apart for ever having been so stupid as to confuse the two
authors. The one I was thinking of generally wrote terrestrial type
SF...
Gawd, some days it doesn't pay to get up....
--
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!dougbrooke@nmtvax.UUCP (04/18/85)
In article <> ph@wudma.UUCP writes: >> > The article >> > said that Isaac Asimov had come out against the initiative and >> > Robert Heinlein for it. >> >> Great. Advice on space defense from people who refuse to set foot >> in an airplane. >> >> Okay, okay, in Asimov's case "refuse" might be a bit strong... how >> about "goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid"? > > And in Heinlein's case it is at least a byte strong--in fact, > I've never heard ANY evidence that he has any technophobic fear > of flying; I thought he had done it many times. In any case > wouldn't such a fear be pretty silly in a man who hopes to live > long enough to buy a commercial ticket to the moon? > > --pH This is getting old. Either one respects Asimov's opinions or not. (I am not telling you mine!) A man's nonpreferred or preferred mode of transportation -- rumored, inferred or factual, even if it's horse and buggy -- has no bearing on whether or not one should respect or even reject or accept his opinions about SDI. These are two disjoint subjects. -- J. Brooke King in Socorro Funland ... ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!brooke Any thoughts or non-thoughts expressed here are not necessarily those of NMIMT.
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (04/23/85)
> A man's nonpreferred or preferred mode of > transportation -- rumored, inferred or factual, even if it's horse and > buggy -- has no bearing on whether or not one should respect or even > reject or accept his opinions about SDI. These are two disjoint > subjects. Holding opinions is one thing; I've got my share with no qualifications to back them. But providing expert advice is something else again. With SDI, we are talking about staking our lives on high technology. So a person who refuses to trust his life to a proven 75-year old technology might indeed be suspect as an "expert". In this case, though, the point is moot. I'm willing to grant that Asimov is valuable for his basic knowledge in a wide range of scientific disciplines. And, as I shall never again forget, Heinlein is *not* Ray Bradbury (well, their names do both start with R... :-) -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
boyce@daemen.UUCP (Buck Wheat) (04/25/85)
> Can you keep a secret??? I hope so. Don't let on, but I have to > admit I made a terrible mistake in saying that Robert Heinlein wouldn't > fly. > > I was thinking of another old-time SF author. If I'm not mistaken the person you meant to mention was Isaac Asimov. -- Doug Boyce UUCP : {decvax,dual,rocksanne,watmath,rocksvax}!sunybcs!daemen!boyce Daemen College Amherst NY What's ...... Fi Fi Fo-Fe Fo Fi Fo? Buck Wheats phone number.