This was a weird tone from Ursula. Davidson in particular was jarring. As I approached the halfway point I thought, I’m getting Vietnam vibes… I looked it up and that does seem to be the intention. I don’t know that that worked for me 100% because it was more guilty of projecting ourselves in the present into the far future. I think that always happens to some degree, but Davidson is pretty egregious.

Having said that, the point is still valid. I don’t know that we’ll ever really outgrow imperialist/colonialist/exploitative tendencies. Depends on how optimistic or pessimistic you are about the future, I guess.

I felt like Davidson was a caricature, but as the story went on he became an interesting case study in self-deception and warped reality. Given the past few years in the US, I couldn’t brush it aside as unbelievable.

Favorite quote:
But even the most unmissionary soul, unless he pretends he has no emotions, is sometimes faced with a choice between commission and omission. 'What are they doing?' abruptly becomes, 'What are we doing?' and then, 'What must I do?’