Synergies

Earlier this month I read a novel by S. M. Stirling in which the heroes get around on dinosaur-back, controlling the dinosaurs by means of electrodes planted in their brains to make them happy when they go where the controller wants them to go and unhappy when they try to go somewhere the controller doesn't want them to go. I admit it's kind of a cool concept, but I felt a bit uncomfortable that none of the characters seemed at all worried about the ethical considerations.

Today, I read a novel by Roger Zelazny, twenty-some years older, in which there is incidentally a character who rides a dinosaur around in a similar fashion - and he gets called on it, by somebody who isn't impressed by the justifications he offers (which are much the same as those tendered in Stirling's novel).

It wasn't the only reason I enjoyed the Zelazny much more than the Stirling, but it was definitely appreciated.