"Merrin was a hero, and anybody who thinks that puts Civilization in a good light ought to be flung out the nearest window before they drag down the average sanity in the room any further.  Correctly designed systems do not rely on individual heroes, especially heroes who, on a planet that actually had a labor market, would not be working as a tier-3 medtech in the middle of nowhere who happens to have literally every emergency cert.  Merrin wasn't there because Civilization has a great hospital system and educational system, she was there because our labor allocation system is a flaming fragrant failure fart.  We had no right to that piece of luck, and we gained it at the expense of Merrin being severely underemployed for a quarter of her life."

"We turn now to a bright spot that was, I suppose, slightly more earned, if you count it as skill that we contacted a large group of people one of whom was the right person; the venture capitalist Ashre, who did a quite impressive job of frantically improvising around Exception Handling's total failure to have done the right research or even gathered the right information more than five minutes in advance.  I won't call him a hero, because he was doing his actual job and was approximately where Civilization thinks somebody like that should be, but he was, beyond doubt, the most valuable player of this entire affair, beyond even Merrin..."

(This next section is about complicated proteins and possibly of less direct personal interest to Merrin.)

"Merrin was a hero, and anybody who thinks that puts Civilization in a good light ought to be flung out the nearest window before they drag down the average sanity in the room any further.  Correctly designed social systems do not rely on individual heroes.  Especially heroes who, on a planet that actually had a labor market, would not be working as tier-3 medtechs in the middle of nowhere.  Merrin wasn't there because Civilization has a great hospital system and educational system, she was there because our labor allocation system is a flaming fragrant failure fart.  We had no right to that piece of luck, and we gained it at the expense of Merrin being severely underemployed for a quarter of her life."

"We turn now to a bright spot that was, I suppose, slightly more earned, if you count it as skill that we contacted a large group of people one of whom was the right person; the venture capitalist Ashre, who did a quite impressive job of frantically improvising around Exception Handling's total failure to have done the right research or even gathered the right information more than five minutes in advance.  I won't call him a hero, because he was doing his actual job and was approximately where Civilization thinks somebody like that should be, but he was, beyond doubt, the most valuable player of this entire affair, beyond even Merrin..."

(This next section is about complicated proteins and possibly of less direct personal interest to Merrin.)

"Merrin was a hero, and anybody who thinks that puts Civilization in a good light ought to be flung out the nearest window before they drag down the average sanity in the room any further.  Correctly designed social systems do not rely on individual heroes.  Especially heroes who, on a planet that actually had a labor market, would not be working as tier-3 medtechs in the middle of nowhere.  Merrin wasn't there because Civilization has a great hospital system and educational system, she was there because our labor allocation system is a flaming fragrant failure fart.  We had no right to that piece of luck, and we gained it at the expense of Merrin being severely underemployed for a quarter of her life."

"We turn now to a bright spot that was, I suppose, slightly more earned, if you count it as skill that we contacted a large group of people one of whom was the right person; the venture capitalist Ashre, who did a quite impressive job of frantically improvising around Exception Handling's total failure to have done the right research or even gathered the right information more than five minutes in advance.  I won't call him a hero, because he was doing his actual job and was approximately where Civilization thinks somebody like that should be, but he was, beyond reasonable doubt, the most valuable player of this entire affair, beyond even Merrin..."

(This next section is about complicated proteins and possibly of less direct personal interest to Merrin.)

"Merrin was a hero, and anybody who thinks that puts Civilization in a good light ought to be flung out the nearest window before they drag down the average sanity in the room any further.  Correctly designed social systems do not rely on individual heroes.  Especially heroes who, on a planet that actually had a labor market, would not be working as tier-3 medtechs in the middle of nowhere.  Merrin wasn't there because Civilization has a great hospital system and educational system, she was there because our labor allocation system is a flaming fragrant failure fart.  We had no right to that piece of luck, and we gained it at the expense of Merrin being severely underemployed for a quarter of her life."

"We turn now to a bright spot that was, I suppose, slightly more earned, if you count it as skill that we contacted a large group of people one of whom was the right person; the venture capitalist Ashre, who did a quite impressive job of frantically improvising around Exception Handling's total failure to have done the right research or even gathered the right information more than five minutes in advance.  I won't call him a hero, because he was doing his actual job and was approximately where Civilization thinks somebody like that should be, but he was, beyond reasonable doubt, the most valuable player of this entire affair, above even Merrin..."

(This next section is about complicated proteins and possibly of less direct personal interest to Merrin.)