The House of Sufficiency

Science can help us to distinguish right from wrong. After all, we study animals to understand why they do the things they do. We can just as well understand our own motives. If we are an ordinary part of an ordinary universe, then there is nothing mysterious about our motives for doing the things we do. This book offers one scientist's reasons for choosing the pursuit of knowledge over the pursuit of money. It argues that free communication and the pursuit of knowledge are uniquely valuable human talents. It is impractical for us to try to control each other, since in doing so we cut ourselves off from free communication. The author believes in people's control of their own circumstances as a general principle. (This 2006 publication is now superseded, in points of difference, by "A Person In Trouble" 2020.)