Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

people, generalists, not specialists- the new Renaissance Man. The very explosion of

data which forced most scholars to specialize very narrowly created the necessity

which evoked this new non-specialist. So far, this “unspecialty” is in its infancy;

its methodology is inchoate, the results are sometimes trivial, and no one knows how

to train to become such a man. But the results are often spectacularly brilliant,

too-this new man may yet save all of us.

I’m an optimist. I have great confidence in Homo sapiens.

We have rough times ahead-but when didn’t we? Things have always been “tough

all over.” H-bombs, Communism, race riots, water shortage-all nasty problems. But

not basic problems, merely current ones.

We have three basic and continuing problems: The problem of population

explosion; the problem of data explosion; and the problem of government.

Population problems have a horrid way of solving themselves when they are

not solved rationally; the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are always saddled up and

ready to ride. The data explosion is now being solved, mostly by cybernetics and

electronics men rather than by librarians-and if the solutions are less than

perfect, at least they are better than what

Grandpa had to work with. The problem of government has not been solved either by

the “Western Democracies” or the “Peoples’ Democracies,” as of now. (Anyone who

thinks the people of the United States have solved the problem of government is

using too short a time scale.) The peoples of the world are now engaged in a long,

long struggle with no end in sight, testing whether one concept works better than

another; in that conflict millions have already died and it is possible that

hundreds of millions will die in it before year 2000. But not all.

I hold both opinions and preferences as to the outcome. But my personal

preference for a maximum of looseness is irrelevant; what we are experiencing is an

evolutionary process in which personal preference matters, at most, only

statistically. Biologists, ecologists in particular, are working around to the idea

that natural selection and survival of the fittest is a notion that applies more to

groups and how they are structured than it does to individuals. The present problem

will solve itself in the cold terms of evolutionary survival, and in the course of

it both sides will make changes in group structure. The system that survives might

be called “Communism” or it might be called “Democracy” (the latter is my guess)-but

one thing we can be certain of: it will not resemble very closely what either Marx

or Jefferson had in mind. Or it might be called by some equally inappropriate

neologism; political tags are rarely logical.

For Man is rarely logical. But I have great confidence in Man, based on his

past record. He is mean, ornery, cantankerous, illogical, emotional- and amazingly

hard to kill. Religious leaders have faith in the spiritual redemption of Man;

humanist leaders subscribe to a belief in the perfectibility of Man through his own

efforts; but I am not discussing either of these two viewpoints. My confidence in

our species lies in its past history and is founded quite as much on Man’s so-called

vices as on his so-called vir

tues. When the chips are down, quarrelsomeness and selfishness can be as useful to

the survival of the human race as is altruism, and pig-headedness can be a trait

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superior to sweet reasonableness. If this were not true, these “vices” would have

died out through the early deaths of their hosts, at least a half million years

back.

I have a deep and abiding confidence in Man as he is, imperfect and often

unlovable-plus still greater confidence in his potential. No matter how tough things

are, Man copes. He comes up with adequate answers from illogical reasons. But the

answers work.

Last to come out of Pandora’s Box was a gleaming, beautiful thing-eternal

Hope.

(1980-I see no point in saying more. R.A.H.)

If It’s Sinful, It’s More Fun.

FOREWORD

The editor who disliked science fiction (and me) but liked my sales grumbled

to me, on my delivering my annual boys’ novel, that she did wish that someone would

write girls’ stories. I answered, “Very well, I’ll write a story for girls. When do