Earth by David Brin

Author:David Brin [Brin, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Retail, Personal, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780553290240
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 1990-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

As his duties expanded, taking him from the regulated pools and fountains of the recycling dome to the rain forest habitat to the enclosed plain where elands stretched their legs under reinforced crystal panes, the two baboons accompanied Nelson like courtiers escorting a prince. Or more likely, apprentices attending their wizard. For wherever Nelson strode, magical things happened.

I speak a word, and light streams forth, he thought as he made his nightly rounds. Another, and water rises for animals to drink.

Voice-sensitive computers made it possible, of course. But even sophisticated systems weren’t good enough to manage a place like this. Not without human expertise.

Or where that ain’t available, let blind guesswork substitute, eh?

Nelson’s reaction to his spate of promotions had been pleasure mixed with irritation.

After all, I don’t really know anything!

True, he seemed able to tell when certain animals were about to get sick, or when something needed fixing in the air or water. He had a knack for setting overhead filters so the grass grew properly, but guesswork was all it was. He had talents never imagined back in the crowded Yukon, but talent was a poor substitute for knowing what you were doing!

So Nelson went about his duties a troubled wizard, pointing at ducts and commanding them to open, sending squat robots off on errands, rubbing and tasting leaves … worrying all along that he hadn’t earned this gift. It was like a big joke perpetrated by some capricious fairy godmother. Not knowing where it came from made it seem revokable at any time.

In his reading he encountered another phrase—“idiot savant”—and felt a burning shame, suspecting it referred to him.

A human being knows what he’s doin’. Otherwise, what’s the point in being human?

So he walked his rounds nodding, listening to the button player in his left ear. Every spare moment, Nelson studied. And the more he learned, the more painfully aware he grew of his ignorance.

Shig and Nell helped. He’d point at a piece of fruit, and they would scurry to bring back the sample. What genetic magic had made them so quick to understand? he wondered.

Or maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m part monkey.

This evening both baboons were subdued as he led them on rounds with unusual intensity. In his head, Nelson’s thoughts roiled.

With images of high school … the sports teams and the gangs … cooperation and competition.

Images of his parents, hard at work side by side, striving for long hours to make their business thrive … competition and cooperation.

Images of cells and bodies, species and planets.

Cooperation and competition. Are they really the same? How can they be?

To some, the conflict seemed inherent. Take economics. The white immigrant, Dr. B’Keli, had given Nelson texts praising enterprise capitalism, in which striving for individual success delivered efficient goods and services. “The invisible hand” was the phrase coined long ago by a Scotsman, Adam Smith.

In contrast, some still promoted the visible hand of socialism. In Southern Africa, cosmopolitans like B’Keli were rare. More often, Nelson heard derision of the “soullessness” of money-based economies, and speeches extolling paternalistic equality.

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