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"Every scientist worth his salt that I know of has read science fiction."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Asteroid Asylums | ||
| Unique cultures mean unique opportunities to help the mentally ill. |
What is fair treatment for the incurably insane?
| "On Earth we tend to try to fit square
pegs in round holes. It doesn't work. In the
asteroids we've got a hole for every peg,
no matter what shape. On Earth if pegs
don't fit we hammer them until they split.
We can't change our culture to fit them, that
would be silly and inconvenient. But we can bring them out to the asteroids.There are cultures here,
thousands of years old, convenient, preferable..."
"We've a Charting Committee for that. Nine thousand Earthmen, hopelessly insane, beyond treatment on Earth, think they're messiahs. That means a waiting list. There are only forty-seven thousand available cultures on forty-seven thousand planetoids between here and Saturn, and in the other sun systems. And only two thousand of these cultures are gullible enough to accept a false redeemer. Therefore, there's a long list of such applicants waiting to travel to some culture when an older savior dies. We couldn't possibly introduce two self-deluded Gautama Buddhas into one culture simultaneously. Oh! what dissension that would cause! But, in event of one John, the Baptist, for instance, we could, at the same time, accommodate one Caesar, one Pontius Pilate, one Matthew, one Mark, one Luke, one John. along with him. You see?" |
| Technovelgy from The Square Pegs,
by Ray Bradbury. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1948 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the Clans of the Alphane Moon (1964) by Philip K. Dick. Also, see the prison planet from Revolt on Inferno (1931) by Victor Rousseau asteroid prison from One Against the Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson, the Alcatraz of Space from Reunion on Ganymede (1938) by Clifford Simak, the Moon as prison from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert Heinlein, zero-time jail from A World Out of Time (1976) by Larry Niven and Brainlock from Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson.
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'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
