He always pictured himself a libertarian, which to my way of thinking means "I want the liberty to grow rich and you can have the liberty to starve". It's easy to believe that no one should depend on society for help when you yourself happen not to need such help.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the selfish interpretation of libertarianism, highlighting the disconnect between those who succeed independently and those in need.
Isaac Asimov's quote reflects on the philosophy of libertarianism, emphasizing that the desire for personal freedom can lead to a lack of empathy for those less fortunate. He points out the hypocrisy in thinking one can thrive solely on self-reliance while disregarding the societal support that others may urgently require, suggesting that a singular focus on individual liberty can ignore the broader social responsibility we have towards each other.
In practice
In a discussion about socio-economic responsibilities during a debate on political ideologies.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Both state and church have as their object actions as well as convictions, the former insofar as they are based on the relations between man and nature, the latter insofar as they are based on the relations between nature and God.
Perhaps the most striking assault on the foundations of traditional liberties is a little-known case brought to the Supreme Court by the Obama administration, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.
If you could meet your grandkids as elderly citizens in the year 2100 … you would view them as being, basically, Greek gods… that's where we're headed.
What we call doubt is often simply dullness of mind and spirit, not the absence of faith at all, but faith latent with the lives we are not quite living, God dormant in the world to which we are not quite giving our best selves.
I grew up in a tough neighborhood and we used to say you can get further with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word.
That is a dream also; only he has remained asleep, while you have awakened; and who knows which of you is the most fortunate?
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