The Prophets of Science Fiction.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_of_Science_Fiction
I just discovered this series on Netflix. It's pretty cool, fyi..
DD
TRUE PROPHETS IDENTIFIED!!!
by DATA-DOG 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Cold Steel
Isaac Asimov, my favorite sci-fi writer, had a great sense of humor. I still remember this gem from years ago:
The Prime of Life
It was, in truth, an eager youth
Who halted me one day.
He gazed in bliss at me, and this
Is what he had to say:“Why, mazel tov, it’s Asimov,
A blessing on your head!
For many a year, I’ve lived in fear
That you were long since dead.
Or if alive, one fifty-five
Cold years had passed you by,
And left you weak, with poor physique,
Thin hair and rheumy eye.
For sure enough, I’ve read your stuff
Since I was but a lad
And couldn’t spell or hardly tell
The good yarns from the bad.
My Father, too, was reading you
Before he met my Ma.
For you he yearned, once he had learned
About you from his Pa.
Since time began, you wondrous man,
My ancestors did love
That SF dean and writing machine
The aged Asimov.”I’d had my fill. I said, “Be still!
I’ve kept my old-time spark.
My step is light, my eye is bright,
My hair is thick and dark.”His smile, in brief, spelled disbelief,
So this is what I did;
I scowled, you know, and with one blow,
I killed that rotten kid. -
yadda yadda 2
Absolutely love sci-fi, thanks for the recomm.
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Phizzy
Some fiction writers show remarkable prescience, from Wiki :
Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan is an 1898 novella written by Morgan Robertson. The story features the ocean liner Titan, which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. The Titan and its sinking have been noted to be very similar to the real-life passenger ship RMS Titanic, which sank fourteen years later. Following the wreck the novel was reissued with some changes, particularly in the ship's gross tonnage "
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umbertoecho
The Devils of Lodon or is Loudon. I very well written book by Isaac Asimov. About the inquisition.
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umbertoecho
There was a movie made called "The Devils" which is still available. Could turn you off religion though. It is an old movie but don't let that put you off..
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DATA-DOG
DD
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Cold Steel
I always thought Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis were written by very talented writers. So what if English was the standard language used throughout the Universe? (That Rosetta Stone software really gets around.)
One of my favorite episodes of the former had them stargating to what appeared an engineering center. They set something off and when they recover they're wearing strange uniforms and are confronted by a very affable character who tells them he has made them "better." They manage to escape, but back on Earth they discover why they're stronger, faster and can make lightning calculations in their minds. It's that they've been turned into androids. They return to the planet, find their host and demand that he restore their weapons and their bodies. Alas, he tells them, that he cannot do. But finally they force him to where their bodies lie in stasis, only to make a more horrible discovery -- their bodies are already inhabited...by them!
In other words, their consciousness weren't just transferred to the android bodies, their entire minds had been xeroxed and placed in the new bodies. Ouch! So both sets of SG-1 members had identical memories and both thought of themselves as the originals. Oh, what to do? The androids wanted nothing more than to return to Earth and take up their regular lives, visit with their families and so forth. It raised some very interesting ethical issues, and also got me thinking that if Jehovah's Witnesses were destined to die, cease to exist, then be recreated in the resurrection, would they be the same people, or would they be merely xerox copies of the people they were, with the same thoughts and memories as the originals?
So science fiction has always raised some troublesome issues along with some hopeful ones. I personally believe we all have eternal spirits that transcend this life, before and after. But my grandmother, raised a Methodist, had a JW daughter who sent her JW articles on how when you die, you die, and it absolutely terrified her. Do we think of ourselves as having "off" and "on" switches, where the same circuit boards and memory modules exist, but can be powered off and on at will? Or are we created at birth, uncreated at death, then recreated at some future time? I've met many Jewish people who believe we're created at birth, then shut off at death and never have another conscious thought, and some of these have been rabbis. One said he "hoped" he would have some future life, but added that he wasn't counting on it.
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