Re: TANSTAAFL

Alan E and Carmel J Brain wrote:
> 
> Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:
> >	    Actually, I believe the basis for those mass drivers
> >	    can be found in the much older novel
> >	    THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein.
> >
> >	    That novel also had a computer making a CGI simulation
> >	    of a person, suitable for a videophone.
> 
> Also voice synthesis and speech recognition. And an astounding AI that
> "just growed" similar to a neural network. Also a description of the
> permanent degenerative effects of mini (as opposed to micro-)gravity.
> Also a UN that's less than completely benign, with a powerful 3rd
World
> voting block long before the term existed. Also "There Ain't No Such
> Thing As A Free Lunch." (TANSTAAFL)

	One of my favorite novels.
	One of the better quotes from the novel is:

"The key political question: Under what circumstances is
it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that
group to do alone? "

	(e.g., if a person kills another, it is "murder", but
	if the courts sentences a man to death, it is "justice".)
	The various answers to the "key political question" define
	the various governments around the world.