25 Quotes Tagged: Science Fiction

It was odd how that last deed caught the imagination of the world. All that Andrew had done before had not swayed them. But he had finally accepted even death to be human, and the sacrifice was too great to be rejected.

She's qualified all right. She understands robots like a sister — comes from hating human beings so much, I think.

Some readers may realize that this story, first published in 1956, has been overtaken by events. In 1965, astronomers discovered that Mercury does not keep one side always to the Sun, but has a period of rotation of about fifty-four days, so that all parts of it are exposed to the sunlight at one time or another.

Well, what can I do except say that I wish astronomers would get things right to begin with?

And I certainly refuse to change the story to suit their whims.

Rams wrapped in thermogene beget no lambs.

Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

Good," said the First Speaker. "And tell me, what do you think of all this. A finished work of art, is it not?"

"Definitely!"

"Wrong! It is not." This, with sharpness. "It is the first lesson you must unlearn. The Seldon Plan is neither complete nor correct. Instead, it is merely the best that could be done at the time. Over a dozen generations of men have pored over these equations, worked at them, taken them apart to the last decimal place, and put them together again. They've done more than that. They've watched nearly four hundred years pass and against the predictions and equations, they've checked reality, and they have learned.

Stephen, how do we know what the ultimate good of Humanity will entail? We haven't at our disposal the infinite factors that the Machine has at its! Perhaps, to give you a not unfamiliar example, our entire technical civilization has created more unhappiness and misery than it has removed. Perhaps an agrarian or pastoral civilization, with less culture and less people would be better. If so, the Machines must move in that direction, preferably without telling us, since in our ignorant prejudices we only know that what we are used to, is good — and we would then fight change. Or perhaps a complete urbanization, or a completely caste-ridden society, or complete anarchy, is the answer. We don't know. Only the Machines know, and they are going there and taking us with them.

He slept that night the sleep of a successfully stubborn man.

Naturally, trouble makes for greater drama than does happiness, and it asks for more in the way of human response

It is easy to predict an automobile in 1880; it is very hard to predict a traffic problem.

In the empty expanses of space, the wandering traders need men like myself to care for the spiritual side of a life so given over to commerce, and worldly pursuits.

Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs. Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare 'automeals,' heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying, poaching or scrambling eggs, grilling bacon, and so on. Breakfasts will be 'ordered' the night before to be ready by a specified hour the next morning.
Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books. Synchronous satellites, hovering in space will make it possible for you to direct-dial any spot on earth, including the weather stations in Antarctica.
[M]en will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better. By 2014, electroluminescent panels will be in common use. Ceilings and walls will glow softly, and in a variety of colors that will change at the touch of a push button.
Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence.
The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by long- lived batteries running on radioisotopes.
"[H]ighways … in the more advanced sections of the world will have passed their peak in 2014; there will be increasing emphasis on transportation that makes the least possible contact with the surface. There will be aircraft, of course, but even ground travel will increasingly take to the air a foot or two off the ground.
[V]ehicles with 'Robot-brains' … can be set for particular destinations … that will then proceed there without interference by the slow reflexes of a human driver.
[W]all screens will have replaced the ordinary set; but transparent cubes will be making their appearance in which three-dimensional viewing will be possible.
[T]he world population will be 6,500,000,000 and the population of the United States will be 350,000,000. All earth will be a

In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61942.Hamilton" rel="nofollow noopener" title="Hamilton">Hamilton</a>'s The Universe Wreckers... it was in that novel that, for the first time, I learned Neptune had a satellite named Triton... It was from
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4823723.The_Drums_of_Tapajos" rel="nofollow noopener" title="The Drums of Tapajos">The Drums of Tapajos</a>
that I first learned there was a Mato Grosso area in the Amazon basin. It was from
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12048865.The_Black_Star_Passes" rel="nofollow noopener" title="The Black Star Passes">The Black Star Passes</a>
and other stories by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4503177.John_W__Campbell" rel="nofollow noopener" title="John W. Campbell">John W. Campbell</a> that I first heard of relativity.

The pleasure of reading about such things in the dramatic and fascinating form of science fiction gave me a push toward science that was irresistible. It was science fiction that made me want to be a scientist strongly enough to eventually make me one.

That is not to say that science fiction stories can be completely trusted as a source of specific knowledge... However, the misguidings of science fiction can be unlearned. Sometimes the unlearning process is not easy, but it is a low price to pay for the gift of fascination over science.

The Galaxy seems to be crowded with things I don't understand.

Just the chemical symbols for the elements of carbon and iron, Elijah. Carbon is the basis of human life and iron of robot life. It becomes easy to speak of C/Fe when you wish to express a culture that combines the best of two on an equal but parallel basis."
"See fee. Do you write it with a hyphen? Or how?"
"No Elijah. A diagonal line between the two is the accepted way. It symbolizes neither one nor the other, but a mixture of the two, without priority.