One of the biggest roles of science fiction is to prepare people to accept the future without pain and to encourage a flexibility of mind. Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories. Two-thirds of 2001 is realistic - hardware and technology - to establish background for the metaphysical, philosophical, and religious meanings later.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Science fiction prepares minds for the future and helps politicians understand realistic tech to grasp deeper meanings.
- In plain terms
- Science fiction read the future and helps leaders use tech to see deeper meanings.
- What can you take from it?
- Read sci-fi to prepare for future and tech changes.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How has sci-fi shaped your view of the future?
- Should leaders read fiction?
Another view
It is not a substitute for real technical knowledge.
More from Arthur C. Clarke
Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.
Permalink to quote #11 Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create Him.
Permalink to quote #13 As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.
Permalink to quote #10
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