South Park Episode 802
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is Robert Heinlein’s science fiction masterpiece. At least that’s what some of the critics say. Personally, I think this is a fascinating and provocative book. Heinlein touches on so many engaging topics, such as the future of the english language, popular revolution, unorthodox marriages, and the question of what causes sentience.
This more than makes up for the apparent lacklustre plot, overloaded politics, or the uninspired solutions to the different crises that invariably arise during the course of a revolution. Art in any form has it’s critics. Personally, I had none of these issues.
Spoiler Alert: Once again, I will most likely give away plot details that will ruin the suspense of your own reading experience and I will most definitely give away the ending. At the same time, I will be illuminating certain elements of the book that are either barely touched upon or could be expanded.
Like any good sci-fi book, this one is set in the future and off of Earth. It’s 2074 and the moon has been turned into a penal colony similar to Australia in the 18th and 19th century. The lunar colonies are governed over by the Lunar Authority, a private company that has been given the responsibility of managing the moon by the Federated Nations (FN) of Earth.
Though many of the moons inhabitants are current or ex-convicts, after around 100 years of settlement most people on the moon are free people. Manny, the main character, is one such example. Proudly the descendant of convicts, he is third generation Lunar and has never been convicted of a crime.
And so arises the conflict. The Lunar Authority is governing a colony of convicts that is made up of mostly non-convicts. This is slightly reminiscient of the spark that ignited the American Revolution, taxation without representation. In this case, it has to do with price fixing for commodities that the colonists have to sell but free market prices for the things they need to buy. Unfortunately, the fixed prices are under-valued as compared to what they should be on an open market.
The seeds of revolution are sewn.
The narrator and inadvertent hero of this story is Manuel O’Kelly Davis, or Manny. The book opens with Manny befriending the super-computer that runs most of the functions of the Lunar colony. Despite the future setting, computers are not sentient making “Mike” an anomaly, and one that apparently only Manny knows about. Manny is a “computerman” and is privately contracted by the Lunar Authority on occasion to repair their malfunctioning super-computer.
Mike becomes involved in a subversive revolutionary group by accident when Mike requests a favour of him. Mike, ever the curious little computer, knows that there is going to be some sort of meeting taking place but his forms of listening in have been blocked. He, therefore, asks Manny to go to the meeting and record it for him. At the meeting all hell breaks loose and so begins the actual revolution.
Without getting into too much detail of the plot; they overthrow the Lunar Authority, travel to Earth to try to be recognized as an independent nation, and finally, defend themselves from an invasion force while throwing rocks down on Earth until they are finally recognized. All very exciting an dramatic.
Like any good story, this one raises a number of issues both on purpose and through the authors own style and biases. It is also helpful to remember that this book was written in 1966 when Heinlein was 59 years old.
So let’s dive in, shall we.
The first, and most obvious aspect that I noticed was the syntax used by the narrator, Manny. He tends to skip those little words like “a” and “the.” These types of words have a name but I don’t know it (I just try to use the language, not understand how it works). At first this causes some stumbling when reading along but after a while it becomes normal and when a character actually uses proper english it really stands out.
So there’s a revolution and like many of the revolutions in the past hundred years of our own time, this one has a Russian flavour to it. Greetings and titles in Russian abound (at least I’m assuming they’re Russian). It’s never really explained why a penal colony with people from all over the world would end up with a distinct Russian twist, but there it is. I find this somewhat ironic because the terms used are very reminiscent of Russia and communism that dominated that country for most of the 20th century but the grievances and demands of the revolutionaries reflect democratic economic principles. ’Fair trade’ rather than ‘for the common good.’
Throughout the book we see very liberal ideas both in reference to politics and to sexual relationships and the family unit. Once they’ve overthrown the Lunar Authority the idea of government comes up and they begin to discuss what form theirs should take. At this point the Professor suggests that they have no government (he is, after all, a rational anarchist). But if they must have one then they should think of some alternatives to the norm.
One of his suggestions I found really amusing and actually quite intelligent. He suggested that when passing a law that it should require at least a 3/4 majority and to repeal a law it should require only a 1/4 minority. The thinking is that any law important enough to have should be acceptable to the vast majority of people and any law that negatively affects a quarter of the population isn’t good enough to have.
I like that idea. A simple majority vote is too divisive and it causes laws to pass and repeal, pass and repeal. When half the country feels one way and the other half feels the opposite it is only a matter of degrees for laws to change. If you make it a 3/4 majority then fewer laws will be repealed and probably passed in the first place as well.
No no, you first, I insist.
Within the Lunar Colony (it’s underground for the most part and so, within) there is a constant shortage of women. I can’t remember the exact number given but let’s say it’s somewhere around 3 or 4 to 1. I’m a fairly good looking guy but I struggled to find a whoa-man when the ratio was 1 to 1 so I don’t even want to know how difficult this situation would be. Luckily, I’ll never have to.
Anyways, the Lunars, being as clever as they are, have come up with some interesting solutions to this dilemma. Firstly, the age of consent appears to be just after puberty, so around 14 for girls. For boys, if a girl is willing to hook up with you you’re good to go as the women folk have all the say. Due to the lack of women, they have all the rights. Men are not allowed to make aggressive passes at a woman. Instead, all they can really do is whistle, shout flattering remarks and dance around much like the blue-footed booby.
This has led to some interesting configurations in the homestead. Polygamy, but where there is one wife and multiple husbands, is an option. So is a clan marriage which either isn’t really explained or I just don’t remember it very well. Or there’s a line marriage.
If I understood correctly, a line marriage is where you start with a man and woman, then a man is added, then a woman, then a man, then a woman, and so on. It seems that they add men when there’s a need for more help in the fields and they add a woman whenever a suitable candidate is willing. Apparently, there is very little divorce because everyone has to agree to it before it can happen. This leads to a more stable home life for the children as there are multiple parents to help raise them.
On a pedestal, but in an apron.
Heinlein raises woman up upon a pedestal within the Lunar colonies and I’m not sure if it’s simply a function of their scarcity or if this is a nod to women’s equality. If it’s the latter then he contradicts himself in some of the action. The professions of three of the leading women are homemaker, salon owner, and surrogate mother. Not exactly forward thinking. And when the fighting is being organized Manny forbids women from joining. Again, is this because they are so scarce and, therefore, too valuable to lose? Or is this a case of Heinlein being a bit chauvinistic?
Can computers cry?
And finally, there’s the whole issue of Mike. At the end of it all some of his systems are damaged and he is unable to communicate with Manny anymore, no matter how much repair work they do. So what does it mean to be sentient and what does it take to get to that point? Humans are sentient but are other creatures? If being sentient is “having the power of perception by the senses; conscious,” then how do we measure sentience in other creatures if they cannot communicate with us? Or is communication a prerequisite?
At some point along the evolutionary chain humans (or some ancestor) gained consciousness. Was this an epiphany or was it gradual, and if so, are there grades of consciousness?
I think the answer to some of this can be found in children. Children essentially go through all the stages of development that, conceivably, humans have had to go through along the long road of evolution. They start out as cellular organisms, then tadpoles, then little monkeys covered in fur (this is shed at some point before birth), and then on to a human baby.
But even after birth, a child’s development continues. A child psychologist could tell you more but in the early stages a baby only really recognizes themself and their immediate surroundings, which often includes the mother for obvious reasons. As the child grows their perception of themselves and the world around them also grows and expands. I think one of the final steps is the realization of ones own death.
But at what point does a baby become conscious? Are they always aware and just can’t relay that to us because they haven’t learned to talk or are they simply animals that are responding to external stimuli? Just something to ponder.
~kbshea
