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Show 38 see that he is in earnest. This is a man who has made many significant discoveries, and Liller leans forward in the chair. "I've discovered I was wrong," Robeck says. "Thoroughly, entirely wrong." He skims his fingers across the edges of the manuscript again. "Look, Liller, what would you do with a book you'd written and then decided was wrong?" "I guess I'd try to fix it," Liller says stupidly. "You can't just fix it. The whole thing is wrong, through and through." "Then I guess I'd have to throw it away." Robeck picks up the pile-of manuscript, drops it in Liller's lap. "Throw it away, then." "But John," Liller protests. "It can't be wrong." Liller has studied the argument of the book carefully, and finds it irrefutably plausible, entirely correct. And he also finds it important. He begins to recite the central argument: "In the species homo sapiens as in other species, various natural forces, including disease, predators, and disability have always served to eliminate the aging members of the population,. . ." Robeck joins him in unison: "... thus freeing resources for the consumption of the younger, reproducing members of the group." Liller is startled to have its author make fun of this serious thesis. But he continues: ,, "Disease, predators, and disability are no longer effective ..." "--thanks to modern medicine--," Robeck intones. "... in eliminating the aged, and resources that are crucial for the |