ncy! That was before your time, of
course." Kramer poured a cup of coffee and after a thoughtful
hesitation quietly took a slice of toast from Dirrul's platter. "They
said we'd create a race of helpless children--defenseless lazy
softies. They said if the individual wasn't forced to fight for his
own survival, for the small comforts of life, he would die of boredom,
drown initiative in luxury."

Dr. Kramer smiled--and took another slice of toast. "Like so many of
the terrifying predictions of the Cassandras none of it came to pass.
Today we're stronger and more vigorous than ever. Today we have more
new inventions, more new discoveries, more fine philosophical insight
than ever before in our entire history.

"Actually what we did was save time on the trivial routines so we
could spend our work-potential where it mattered. After all, what was
gained by a social system that forced me to spend so much of my energy
feeding and housing and clothing myself? Weigh the loss against the
greater contribution I might have made if I had spent the same time in
research."

"Why, yes, Dr. Kramer--you could have given us the Cloud-foam lounge a
generation earlier," Dirrul said bitterly, "or perhaps the Safe-sweet
candy."

Again his sarcasm lost its savor, for the professor simply beamed and
said, "Possibly, if that had been my field of interest. As it happens
I'm a psychologist specializing in emotive linguistics--the
symbologies for conveying meanings." The professor smiled.

"Our present vigor and strength, no doubt, is reflected in the sort of
thing we do with all this extra time our gadgets give us--the
scholarly research in the Arena or the Phonoview."

"You're being very uncritical, Edward. Under any social form a great
majority of the people would spend everything on personal pleasures.
Why not? Each generation produces only a few leaders--we simply
recognize that fact and adjust to it."

"But without the incentive of personal gain, Dr. Kramer...."

The professor laughed uproariously. "Incentive! You amaze me, Edward.
I haven't heard the word used in just that context since I was a boy.
You're a throwback--an anachronism. You sound like one of the elderly
prophets of doom. I thought the breed had died out generations ago."
The professor laughed again. "So our system creates no incentives.
Tell me, Edward, why are you spending your Work-Equivs to take my
night course?"

"Because, when I've passed enough university hou