Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle both got crap for using an aristocratic Imperial model for the universe in their Mote in Gods Eye books. Really, it was Jerrys universe first, then he invited Larry in to play. But the critics bashed them both for predicting a return to dynastic government on an interstellar scale. I wonder if Frank Herbert ever got the same grief? Speaking strictly as a minimum wage historian (hat tip: Zachary Hill) it seems to me democracies are much more fragile and have much shorter life spans, than other forms of tyrannical government. Most people throughout history seem to want the government to either a) take care of them or b) get out of their way. You dont have to have a democracy for either. If you can do both at the same time . . . you could theoretically keep power for thousands of years! Sufficiently advanced technology might not only permit it, but foster it to the point of inevitability. The benevolent despotism.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 04:11:58 +0000
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