Overheard Starbuck

"For most of history most humans didn't live past forty years of age. There were fewer lean years to worry about, to accumulate surplus for, because they were fewer years for everyone."
---"There were fewer people. Women were chattel. Infanticide was common. ... The strong took from the weak. ... Winter kills were both dreaded and welcomed. ... What science, what information could those people have that would be of any use to us?"
"They're our ancestors."
---"Except for shared genetic material they'ld be as foreign to us as aliens from another planet."
"But they'ld learn how to live in the here and now."
---"Like today's Muslims? Would you want to teach them? Would they want to learn? Who has that kind of time? You're talking about decades not years. ... We have responsibilities to our own people."
"And the stockholders."