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  • I believe the same. For this I am called Pollyanna by my family.

    (And in fact I did hitchhike by myself from Anchorage, Alaska down to Moses Lake, Washington in my youth…)

    by JKCalhoun
  • Certainly not true in every culture. Because this is not an intrinsic truth of humanity. The evils the author sees as exceptions are actually the rule of our nature, but for one reason or another, most people (in some cultures) these days choose to operate on better principles because the outcome is preferable.

    A murderer might enjoy killing, but will only be able to do so for a short time before being caught and imprisoned (or better, executed). But few people have ever been jailed or hurt for exercising charity and kindness on others. It's not that humans are normally or mostly good (we're very clearly not), but that living as such tends towards better and longer lives.

    So in that sense I also believe, for the most part, that those around me are more willing to help than to hurt. Sadly those with the most influence on our lives don't represent a random sampling of "most people".

    by Magicrafter13
  • Heinlein's preferred title for this essay was "Our Noble, Essential Decency."
    by wyclif
  • The point about politicians is the one I think today most needs. Our public systems don't work when we inherently distrust them. This isn't reason alone to trust, but a bias towards distrust is a pernicious thing for society.

    This might be terribly controversial, but I think that even today, even at the highest levels of power, evil is a rare exception, rather than the rule, and we oughta be aware of that.

    by manlymuppet
  • Excellent points on the intrinsic motivations and qualities absolutely dominating any control system.

    But also plenty of places are nothing like Heinlein's hometown so this is far from universal.

    by blfr
  • Ah, Heinlein. There's not much energy up there, and the energy question is a big one. It's now 2026 and we are still at the point where we can only move a fraction to actual space of what we originally start off with down here. Our fuel is still not anywhere close to what we'd need in terms of energy density and throughput.
    by rf15
  • (1952).

    Heinlein was such an odd fellow. Extremely progressive on one hand and extremely regressive on the other, sometimes in the span of a single paragraph.

    by ballmerpoint
  • In 2026, it is not wise to believe that almost all politicians are honest. It is better to be skeptical of their motivations and hope they are honest enough to do the right thing for the citizens they represent.
    by johnohara

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