It is a truism that the structure of a society is basically determined by its technology. Not in an absolute sense-there may be totally different cultures using identical tools-but the tools settle the possibilities; you can't have interstellar trade without spaceships. A race limited to a single planet, possessing a high knowledge of mechanics but with its basic machines of industry and war requiring a large capital investment, will inevitably tend toward collectivism under one name or another. Free enterprise needs elbow room.

Why do people in this age think their own impoverished lives must be the norm of the universe?

There are some ideas so stupid that only intellectuals can believe in them, particularly left-wing intellectuals.

We live with our archetypes, but can we live in them?

Will none wipe the sneer off the face of the cosmos?

I wrote the first book, Harvest of Stars, and as I was writing it, I saw that certain implications had barely been touched on... It's perfectly obvious that two completely revolutionary things are going on, with cybernetics, and biological science.

Let us settle down to the serious business of getting drunk.