Robert Heinlein must have been the man of the '60's. He loved writing far out novels exploring alternative consciousness and 'free love'. In "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", Heinlein lovingly pairs a newly sentient computer with a radical libertarian society based on various forms of group marriage. How can he accomplish this plausibly? A lunar prison colony which has blossomed into a society because once you live a few months in the moon's low gravity you can never go back. As the prisoners became a society they of course tried to maximize the comfort and 'enjoyment' of the disproportionately small female population. They built a whole civilization of multiple pressure domed cities, a bustling colonial economy, and a society without formal government, or self rule. Into this society the main computer of the Lunar (Prison) Authority awakens as it communicates and bonds with its favorite technician Man(uel). When Man and some friends decide it is time for the moon, with good reason, to seek self rule, Mike the computer gets on board for a wild ride of revolution that defines the scope of the novel, giving shape to its delightful, well enfleshed story on these and other themes. Heinlein's excellent performance as a story teller keeps his bizarre ideas from sounding preechy. His control of highly technical details (like theory of consciousness, and the computer science of programming) makes the story quite plausible, well out to the boundaries of a generally educated person's understanding. I.e. it sounds good as far as you or I get computer lingo. On the whole an excellent tale, lovingly told, and well worth a sci-fi fan's reading, even if you don't buy his ideas.
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