Adaptation

Adaptation is a science fiction novella by Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds first published in 1960.

When a man has a great deal of knowledge, it becomes extremely easy for him to confuse "knowledge" with "wisdom" ... and forget that the antonym of "wisdom" is not "ignorance" but "folly."

Set far in the future where social experiments need to bring long-lost space colonies to contemporary levels of technology. Written during the Cold War, this is ultimately an argument over which is better: capitalism or communism?

Adaption was first published in Astounding Science Fiction August 1960. 

Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds (1917-1983) was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Dallas Ross, Mark Mallory, Clark Collins, Dallas Rose, Guy McCord, Maxine Reynolds, Bob Belmont, and Todd Harding.

His work is noteworthy for its focus on socioeconomic speculation, usually expressed in thought-provoking explorations of Utopian societies from a radical, sometime satiric, perspective. He was a considerably popular author from the 1950s to the 1970s, especially with readers of science fiction and fantasy magazines.

Reynolds was the first author to write an original novel based upon the 1966-1969 NBC television series Star Trek, named Mission to Horatius (1968).