I
have just taken time out from Poul Anderson to reread "The Ethics of
Madness" by Larry Niven, an early short story in the Known Space future
history, published in 1967. It seems to come from a more innocent age:
technology, including medical technology, would continue to improve;
people would live longer and age less;
work would become easier and
working hours less;
the economy would remain peaceful and prosperous
throughout the many decades of a large population's extended lifespans.
Poul Anderson always recognised more sharply than Niven that life is not always easy and comfortable.
"The
Ethics of Madness" comes from a time when the Known Space history was
new and, like Anderson's History of Technic Civilisation, was a worthy
successor to Robert Heinlein's seminal Future History. The idea of
setting several short stories and novels with or without continuing
characters within successive periods of a projected history of the
future several centuries or more in length was a genuine innovation. It
is fitting that two major sf writers, Anderson and Niven, have
presented versions of the future different from each others' and from that of their inspirer, Heinlein.
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