Great journal reflections on Tuesday! I don't plan to post here regularly, but I thought I'd start this blog off with some compiled ideas and thoughts from reflections this week I found particularly interesting. Perhaps you'll see something to think about or reply to for your journals next week, and consider posting here where we can all read and respond.
(1) How is Heinlein playing with different definitions and usages of words like "free" and "freedom," when he introduces us to, and has his characters debate, concepts of free trade, TANSTAAFL, and concepts of political freedom from classic liberalism and modern libertarianism? Can you apply TANSTAAFL to political freedom? To free trade? Does Heinlein want you to? How do/will the Lunies pay for an otherwise largely free (certainly low cost) political revolution? Is there freedom on the other end?
(2) Why is Heinlein playing so actively with gender, sex, and stereotypical/traditional gender roles in this futuristic novel? Do you think it reflects Heinlein's interests/personality, and so perhaps is just part of his storytelling? Does it tell us something useful/interesting about the early-mid 1960s? Do the protections and apparent freedoms-to-choose make women on Luna more free than men, or simply keep them protected by men just as they might protect another especially valuable commodity (e.g. air, water)?
(3) "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave..." - HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Many of you identified fears of Mike, expecting that he will betray our heroic cabal of revolutionaries, or otherwise adopt evil or tyrannical tendencies. Why? Can you identify textual sources for this apprehension? To what extent do you (as a modern reader) think you are affected by the science fiction trope of computers-gone-mad (e.g. HAL 9000, Skynet), or highly-publicized fears from speculative scientists about sentient AI?
