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1st Heinlein Prize Awarded
baxissimo writes "The first ever Heinlein prize for Advances in Space Commercialization is going to be awarded to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, for various activities including his efforts as Founder and Chairman of the Ansari X Prize. The prize is a cool 1/2 million USD plus a few other nifty trinkets -- a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein's book Glory Road) and a Laureate's Diploma. The award ceremony will be held in Houston, July 7, 2006. This prize has been around a good while (since Heinlein's death in 1988?) with no awardees. Hopefully this will make the existence of the prize a little more widely known, and help spur further developments like the X Prize."
Is this like selling air?
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
This is a must see ... the Lady Vivamus Sword
You'd think with a Heinlein prize, the award would be a giant gold breast. ;)
But on a serious note, I'm glad this prize is out there. Aside from the usual flamewar about private industry versus government-driven research, it seems to me the more people/companies/organizations/entities that are trying to get into space, the faster our species as a whole will get off this rock and start exploring the universe.
Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
I just hope after this Dr. Peter H. Diamandis remembers TINSTAAFL! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TINSTAAFL
Always be polite.
There are only a half dozen comments or so and the site is already down. Bummer.
Yeah, I'm as old as my UID would suggest.
...this is a prize for offering a prize?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
He can yell "front!" at any time and have beautiful women available to do his bidding 24 hours a day. He even gets a fair witness included at no extra charge.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Why can't there be a Heinlein award for insect repellant?
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
He now has 50 or more billions for not-for-profit development. It would be interesting if he used a portion to persue this. OTH, Paul Allen has been spending money on space before it was even popular to do so.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
What? It says so on the web site. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
There's an Air and Space Museum!
My 0.02 cents
Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Larry Niven, to name a few.
Heinlein also had some interesting commentary on some "not PC" topics as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange _Land
Do you grok?
www.effectiveelectrons.com "chips that work" Analog, RF, Mixed Signal
The problem with extreme left-wing socialistic science fiction is that there's no boobs or underage sex. It's soooo boring. :P
Apart from some of the technical stuff he mentions, check this out (From the wikipedia page): In Solution Unsatisfactory, written in 1940, Heinlein set out the following predictions: in 1941 the US government would start a large-scale secret project, which would make nuclear weapons available for use by the end of 1944 (radioactive dust rather than a bomb - but with much the same strategic implications); the weapon would be used to destroy an Axis city in 1945; this would bring WWII to an end, but start a nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union. (In Heinlein's story, it leads to a new war which the US wins, gaining domination over the whole world but becoming a military dictatorship in the process).
An award for someone who gave out an award? Why don't we recognise actual innovators?
an ill wind that blows no good
I got mine ready to go, just got to finish up duct-taping the capsule and finish drawing my logo.. asp
Anyone else?
But seriously congratulations to Dr. Diamandis for winning! On to the moon!
http://www.xprizefoundation.com/news/LunarLanding
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Too centered on US authors, may be?
(Btw, I consider Heinlein one of the best SF storytellers of the last century. I'm just wondering at this prize, because Glory Road ain't one of his good books. He's written great stuff, but this run-of-the-mill fantasy doesn't come close.)
Joachim
People don't write Manifestos any more -- what's going on in this world? [Frank Zappa]
Well, it's slashdotted now, but judging by the little image on the H prize page she'd be something of a wrist-breaker.
Not much call for cavalry sabers these days, anyway.
The article doesn't mention it, but I assume this date was chosen because it is Heinlein's Birthday.
I know this because it is also mine, and I always thought that was cool.
-Tommy
"I got a half gallon of Jack, and 2 dozen Ant Traps. I'm about to get wild." -me
> his extreme right-wing, dog-eat-dog capitalistic propanganda
Oh, you mean libertarian?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
My username > * > Your username!
;)
Whos Pwned Now
(woo, end of day immaturity)
That poor server has been slashdotted, of course... but you can still see thumbnails at Google Images. http://images.google.com/images?q=lady+vivamus&sa= N&tab=wi
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Good one...!
:)
/>
I wonder how long you've been waiting for the opportunity to do that.
<grrr
>she'd be something of a wrist-breaker.
I'm not sure how it would work on a saber, but you see that angled grip on hammers and other tools these days. That grip would put the line of the blade in direct line with the line of your forearm. Less arm fatigue when hacking at the annoying peasantry from horseback.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
>no boobs or underage sex
You have obviously not read Child of Fortune by Norman Spinrad.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
..the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein's book Glory Road)..
But what if it's not as described? Who will know? Sounds like undercover advertising to me.
When thinking about net neutrality I am often reminded on one of his quotes.
"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this
country the notion that because a man or a corporation has made a
profit out of the public for a number of years, the government
and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such
profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances
and contrary public interest."
-- Robert Heinlein, "Life-Line" (1939)
Um.... OMG? You think Heinlein is left wing? Are you mental? While his views on such things were not conventional I'd stick him firmly in the "Libertarian" camp, which from my point of view (Banks and McLeod are countrymen of mine) is fairly far to the right. If Heinlein is viewed as some kind of leftist commie in the US these days then you guys are in a worse state than I though.
'Sides, Heilein may not have been much of a tree hugger, but that hardly makes him a true conservative as we see today. Libertarianism, regardless of the clueless palitical parties who espouse it, was on the left wing of the spectrum teh last I checked.
Some people are seriously trying to win some of that NASA money.
http://lunarlander.spaceracenews.com/
Right. Because Heinlein certainly never portrayed the downsides of capitalism. Nor did he ever show a centrally controlled or socialist economy in a positive light. Oh, wait...
"No boobs or underage sex" - Somehow I don't think he was referring to Heinlein in any way shape or form... I mean, sure, the juveniles stayed a bit to the side of direct mention, but Moon, or Time Enough, or certainly Stranger? I think that was contrasting them, not suggesting that they were the same. Although by a more useful definition of "underage" than "below-this-prescribed-number-of-years", I would not be surprised at that being not particularly present.
Er, not quite so much. That may be one of the more common positions that seem to be advocated by his books, but it is not by far the only one. For instance, "starship troopers" is more about the nature of war and civic duty than about commerce. Also springing to mind are "Stranger in a strange land", which some have suggested was part of the origin of the whole "free love" movement. "The Moon is a harsh mistress" doesn't so much go for capitalistic propaganda as the assertion that paying for what you get is unavoidable, even in a society that tries to obscure it. "Beyond This Horizon" goes farther, with money being considered just a representation of a share in the production of the society.
All in all, my impression is that the primary purpose in the whole set is to get people thinking. Some of the books make Heinlein seem to come from one side; other books make it look like his actual opinion is completely on the other side. The predominant impression I got from them was one of "relationships are important" and "human beings should think". I mean, one of the main themes in "starship troppers" was the idea of formulating a system of morals based on clear and precise reasoning from a set of axioms.
Yes, I read it. I stand by my assesssment. The guy is a charlatan and a serial entrepreneur who has never created a successful venture. But I am sure he has pocketed lots of other people's money.
an ill wind that blows no good
You know I can think of only one other writer to beat Heinlein in the totally weirded out stakes that being Philip K. Dick. Don't take my word for it, just sit down to the PKD reader in one sitting. The Turning Wheel set in a post-apocalyptic future is uncannily prescient where the 'Caucs` are at the bottom of the social pile and everyone gives praise to the church of Elron (clearness be upon him) another lunatic .. er visionary of the SF world. Who knows PKD might have made a fine mainstream writer if he only laid off the amphetamines.
davecb5620@gmail.com
You forgot his most useful invention: the water bed.
The guy that designed, built & launched a (suborbital) spaceship ? Or the guy that's actually selling tickets for spaceflight (which qualifies as commercial by definition).
What, the mod's didn't appreciate the joke? Sorry for your sake that I don't have mod points, best thing i've read today!!
2^3 * 31 * 647
You know, most people would be honored to be referred to as a "serial entrepreneur" - since that would mean that they had not only successfully created something new - they did it more than once.
Myself, I'm only an aspiring charlatan. Ready? Nothing up my sleeves....
Clear, Dark Skies
It's not so much about Heinlein. I don't think he would've minded. It's just that awarding prizes for commercialization is a bit redundant, since commercialization usually leads to it's own reward - cold, hard cash. Let's just stick to giving awards to the people who do a lot of hard work that doesn't have a chance of making them filthy rich in the process but benefits Progress, Humankind or [insert Grand Word].
The terms "left" and "right" as applied to politics originally meant the commoners and the nobility. As used today, they're best applied to the workers and the owners or "capitalists" - like the nobility of old, the owning class is defined and backed by the state (which issues corporate charters, land and resource deeds, patents, copyrights, etcetera).
"Left" and "right", "worker" versus "owner", should not be confused with social liberalism or conservatism, or with command economies versue free markets, or with interventionism versus isolationism in foreign policy. Politics is multidimensional, and one could very well be a leftist with conservative social views who favors a free market and an interventionalist foregin policy, or a right-wing backer of command economies with a tolerant social attidude and a yen for isolationism. Of course, some combinations of these views are statistically more common than others.
The term "libertarian" originally refered to the sort of libertarian socialism generally known today as anarchy. Libertarian socialism is decidedly leftist, i.e., aligned with the concerns of workers over owners.
"Libertarian capitalists", of the sort you'll often find in the American "Libertarian Party", attempted to appropriate the term in the mid 20th-century. Libertarian capitalists are decidedly to the right, i.e., aligned with the concerns of owners, putting property rights as primary. (Indeed, many hold the view that a persons body is their "property" and thus arguing that all other rights flow from property rights).
Heinlein was clearly socially liberal, a free-marketer, and a supporter of war as legitimate foreign policy. Beyond that, I'm not familiar enough with his work to attempt to characterize him.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
i agree with the way you describe Henlain, and with the way you categorise the Libertarian Capitalists of today. I have never before seen the definition of left as worker and rigth as owner - this does tend to put libertarians on the right. To clarify why I'd said what I'd said, my PHI teacher, or so long ago wrote on The Spectrum on a board for us...
R reactionary, faschist, other stuff I quickly forgot, generic conservative Moderate Libertarian (Ala Locke, i suppose) generic liberal, anarchist, socialist communist L
Actually, I dont recall who was more left, socialists or anarchist. I knew I landed a few wobbly steps to the right of the commies, somewhere between sicialists and anarchists, depending on my mood.
Aaaaaanyways, given my understanding that Locke = Libertarian (and given that back then, I actually remmbered what the heck they'd all said - all I remember now is "Government sucks but is kinda needed, so lets have the minimum possible amount of it") Heinlein would kind of fall into that, and therefore to the slightly left