The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5264

The lesson was surprisingly informative. Not only did Professor Larkinson weave his previous lesson into the narrative of the conference, but he was also candid about his motivations behind his decisions.

That surprised students such as Klaus the most. They never thought that they had any chance of reaching this level of decision-making in their lives. This was the sort of lesson that aspiring politicians and heads of states would kill to attend!

Instead, the professor was baring much of his own analysis and thought process in front of 250 future mech designers or businessmen!

Still, given that Ves Larkinson was a mech designer himself, he was living proof that it was never a luxury for these students to learn how to handle themselves in junctions where they were in the rare position to decide the future of red humanity!

"Much of red humanity have grown up in fairly comfortable and civilized environments that are defined by centuries of peace and prosperity." The professor told them all. "This means that they have grown up while internalizing a set of rules that allows them to optimally navigate a peaceful and prosperous environment. The problem with that is that they are ill-equipped to handle situations where these conditions no longer apply. War will soon be upon us all. The rules have changed, and if we are to survive, we must adapt. What many people disagree on is how we should change. The Polymath's Unity Plan has its good points, but it puts too much power in the hands of a single leader. You can look back on human history to figure out why developing an excessive dependency on a single point of failure has never ended well for everyone involved."

The Terrans were especially opposed to the reforms pushed by the Unity Plan. It was almost universally reviled throughout the Terran Alliance.

This was also why the Terrans had developed a sudden liking for Professor Larkinson! While the exact story about his involvement was not quite clear to the general public, it was certain that he had played a small but fairly influential role in defeating the Polymath's overly expansive and intrusive master plan!

"Let me be honest with you." The professor continued. "I did not expect my contributions to vault me to a tier 3 galactic citizen. I did not expect to have an actual say during the voting session. However, when these realities had been thrust into my lap, I rolled with the situation and took advantage of the situation to represent my own interests. It was fortunate that I did so, because there were way too many delegates that had a very different interpretation of the facts and the consequences of their decisions."

A new projection appeared that showed three different hierarchical structures.

The Unity Plan became highlighted first.

"In theory, this one offers the greatest clarity and the least amount of waste. There is one ultimate authority on top that everyone else must answer to. So long as an extremely clever and highly prepared leader such as the Polymath takes charge, everything should go right. That is what a disturbing amount of mechers thought, but I thought differently. What is the single most important reason that such a leadership structure should concern everyone?"

Many hands rose in the air. Ves decided to give the word to Ryan Shuku.

"The greatest source of concern to many people is lack of trust." Ryan answered in a clear but also careful tone. It was never a good idea to criticize a Star Designer directly. "There is no counterbalance in this hierarchical diagram. The term for the sovereign is supposedly unlimited. It is unclear how a different person can replace the current leader after a term or if there is demand for change. There are no legislative chambers or courts that could divide the leader's power and keep each other in check. There are no means to stop the leader from abusing all of that power. In summary, the entire Unity Plan can only work if the tyrant has enough force to prevent serious challenges and is able to indoctrinate enough people to support this flawed hierarchy despite all of its flaws."

"That is a good dissection of the Unity Plan's greatest flaw. Still, if anyone could have pulled it off, then the Polymath is probably the best candidate if we use an objective measure. It is only the assumption that she would handle her duties in a responsible manner and that she will refrain from abusing her position to advance her own personal interests as opposed to the people she supposedly serves. The fact of the matter is that I do not trust her to hold my best interests, and it is not a stretch to think that she does not think highly of your interests either."

No one disagreed with the professor on this point.

"What I also find objectionable about her plan is that it treats everyone as if they were children. Much of humanity had already been deprived of a lot of rights when the Big Two rose up and reduced every star nation into reduced states. What the Polymath sought to do was to take over even more control over decisions that should actually be determined by ourselves. We should be able to choose where we live, who we work for, how we spend our money and more. That is an intrinsic aspect of what makes us human and so successful throughout the years. The Unity Plan encroaches way too much on these basic rights and seeks to 'prevent' us from making stupid and wasteful decisions. What does this say about the creator of this plan?"

All of the students who were previously eager to raise their hands and demonstrate their quick thinking had become remarkably mum at this time.

Even Klaus did not have the guts to voice his opinion even though he had clear opinions about this subject matter!

The professor smirked at this unusually quiet display. He did not look like he faulted his students for their discretion.

"Alright, since no one appears to have any clue, then let me answer my own question. The Polymath... doesn't trust anyone but herself. I am not a psychologist or anything, so I won't comment on how it must frustrate her to be surrounded by so many less intelligent people all of the time that frequently make suboptimal choices. What is certain is that her blueprint of red humanity essentially sends the message that she cannot trust us all to make good decisions that promote red humanity's survival, so she must make all of the important decisions on our behalf. Whether she is right to consider us all stupid, what about her? What if she is burdened by her own set of flaws? How can we trust her to be the only truly knowledgeable, impartial and incorruptible individual out of our entire civilization?"

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