XPost: talk.politics.libertarian, alt.anarchism, alt.society.anarchy   
   From: anarcissie@gmail.com   
      
   In article   
   ,   
    Bert Hyman  wrote:   
      
   > In news:ddfr-DFF715.00552301072010@newsfarm.iad.highwinds-media.com   
   > David Friedman  wrote:   
   >   
   > > In article ,   
   > >  Anarcissie  wrote:   
   > >>   
   > >> Ayn Rand is science fiction?   
   > >   
   > > _Atlas Shrugged_ is. Have you read it?   
   > >   
   > > Important plot elements are a new alloy (Reardon Metal) much superior   
   > > to steel, and a motor that, if I remember correctly, runs without   
   > > fuel.   
   >   
   > It ran on electricity extracted from "the atmosphere."   
      
   I read about 2/3 of _Atlas_Shrugged_ maybe 50 years   
   ago, so my memories of it may be a little spotty.  I   
   remember the new alloy, but people produce new alloys   
   all the time so that doesn't seem very science-fictiony   
   to me.  Perceptible incremental progress in technology   
   and engineering has been a fact of industrial life   
   since the 18th century.  I missed the part about an   
   engine than ran on zero-cost fuel.  Something like that   
   would indeed be worthy of science fiction -- it would   
   radically change the world by producing unlimited stuff   
   and therefore unmanageable surpluses, obviating the   
   need for a special elite to own and manage industrial   
   production. I certainly don't recall anything like   
   _that_ in _AS_, or being said about it, either.  So   
   what happens with this motor?  It doesn't seem to have   
   turned everything over, because as I recall at the end   
   the Great Leader is still leading the charge.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)