Reflective-Moon ideas

On class Tuesday, I realized how easy it can be to only focus on certain aspects of a book while paying little mind to other major themes.
In my selfish mind I was really only concerned with the development of Mike, the conscious computer. As I read, I looked for clues that the Authority might find out about him, or some hulking prank he would play, or some element of the rebellion he would betray...and ultimately I was disappointed. As our class discussion pointed out, Heinlein was much more interested in the sexual implications and societal development on the moon than exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on the human race. Now if I had written this book...but of course I didn't, so I should have paid more attention to the issues Heinlein was focusing on rather than my own concerns.
Consequently, some of the ideas we discussed were intriguing because I hadn't considered them yet. Would a society of criminals -permanently exiled from their home planet even after serving their sentence- develop into such an embracing and family focused culture? Would families morph into such intricate relationships? We mentioned the possibilities, but I think there is honestly no way of predicting whether anything like Heinlein's fictional society would actually be established and even flourish in this sort of environment. I decided that there are too many variables, ranging from which Earthly family structures the original criminals were familiar with to instigation by the Authority, to determine if this society could develop. Possible, yes, but not probable.
I like that conclusion though. Originally, I was disappointed that the book ended so predictably, but now I have found some consolation in the fact that the formation of this Lunar society was so unpredictable.