nickmarlou’s Reviews > The MANIAC > Status Update

Labatut portrays a conflict between Barricelli and von Neumann to expose the weakness of idealism. While Barricelli sought to prove that «not all life comes from a fierce competition», von Neumann used IAS machine simply to dominate. Though the real reason of their conflict is unknown, it matters little: idealism always loses to power. Worst of all, power fears only death, so it dreams feverishly of creating a «god».