The Diamond Age Read Online Free PDF

say that we find unpredictable or novel things more interesting."
      "That is nearly a tautology." But while Lord Finkle-McGraw was not the sort to express feelings promiscuously, he gave the appearance of being nearly satisfied with the way the conversation was going. He turned back toward the view again and watched the children for a minute or so, twisting the point of his walking-stick into the ground as if he were still skeptical of the island's integrity. Then he swept the stick around in an arc that encompassed half the island. "How many of those children do you suppose are destined to lead interesting lives?"
      "Well, at least two, sir-Princess Charlotte, and your granddaughter."
      "You're quick, Hackworth, and I suspect capable of being devious if not for your staunch moral character," Finkle-McGraw said, not without a certain archness. "Tell me, were your parents subjects, or did you take the Oath?"
      "As soon as I turned twenty-one, sir. Her Majesty- at that time, actually, she was still Her Royal Highness- was touring North America, prior to her enrollment at Stanford, and I took the Oath at Trinity Church in Boston."
      "Why? You're a clever fellow, not blind to culture like so many engineers. You could have joined the First Distributed Republic or any of a hundred synthetic phyles on the West Coast.  You would have had decent prospects and been free from all this"- Finkle-McGraw jabbed his cane at the two big airships-  "behavioural discipline that we impose upon ourselves. Why did you impose it on yourself, Mr. Hackworth?"
      "Without straying into matters that are strictly personal in nature," Hackworth said carefully, "I knew two kinds of discipline as a child: none at all, and too much. The former leads to degenerate behaviour. When I speak of degeneracy, I am not being priggish, sir- I am alluding to things well known to me, as they made my own childhood less than idyllic."
      Finkle-McGraw, perhaps realizing that he had stepped out of bounds, nodded vigorously. "This is a familiar argument, of course."
      "Of course, sir. I would not presume to imply that I was the only young person ill-used by what became of my native culture."
      "And I do not see such an implication. But many who feel as you do found their way into phyles wherein a much harsher regime prevails and which view us as degenerates."
      "My life was not without periods of excessive, unreasoning discipline, usually imposed capriciously by those responsible for laxity in the first place. That combined with my historical studies led me, as many others, to the conclusion that there was little in the previous century worthy of emulation, and that we must look to the nineteenth century instead for stable social models."
      "Well done, Hackworth! But you must know that the model to which you allude did not long survive the first Victoria."
      "We have outgrown much of the ignorance and resolved many of the internal contradictions that characterised that era."
      "Have we, then? How reassuring. And have we resolved them in a way that will ensure that all of those children down there live interesting lives?"
      "I must confess that I am too slow to follow you."
      "You yourself said that the engineers in the Bespoke department- the very best- had led interesting lives, rather than coming from the straight and narrow. Which implies a correlation, does it not?"
      "Clearly."
      "This implies, does it not, that in order to raise a generation of children who can reach their full potential, we must find a way to make their lives interesting. And the question I have for you, Mr. Hackworth, is this: Do you think that our schools accomplish that? Or are they like the schools that Wordsworth complained of?"
      "My daughter is too young to attend school- but I should fear that the latter situation prevails."
      "I assure you that it does, Mr. Hackworth. My three children were raised in those schools, and I know them well. I am determined