I recently read H. Beam Piper's Space Viking. One passage in particular stood out to me...
"You think it'll be like that?"
"Don't you? You were there; you saw what's happening. The barbarians are rising; they have a leader, and they're uniting. Every society rests on a barbarian base. The people who don't understand civilization, and wouldn't like it if they did. The hitchhikers. The people who create nothing, and who don't appreciate what others have created for them, and who think civilization is something that just exists and that all they need to do is enjoy what they can understand of it — luxuries, a high living standard, and easy work for high pay. Responsibilities? Phooey! What do they have a government for?"
— H. Beam Piper, Space Viking, 1963
That's right. Published in 1963.
The barbarians are here. It just took them 50 years to find a leader.
I wonder what Mr. Piper would have to say if he were writing today?
The barbarians are here. It just took them 50 years to find a leader.
I wonder what Mr. Piper would have to say if he were writing today?
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