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Food for thought
Jun. 9th, 2020 06:38 amBelow is an *old* editorial by John W. Campbell. It is all too relevant to current events even though it purports to be an intellectual exercise
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“WHAT DO YOU MEAN . . . HUMAN?”
by John W. Campbell, Jr.
from Astounding Science fiction
There are some questions that only small children and very great philosophers are supposed to ask—questions like “What is Death?” and “Where is God?”
And then there are some questions that, apparently, no one is supposed to ask at all; largely, I think, because people have gotten so many wrong answers down through the centuries, that it's been agreed-by-default not to ask the questions at all.
Science fiction, however, by its very existence, has been asking one question that belongs in the “Let's agree not to discuss it at all” category—of course, simply by implication, but nevertheless very persistently. To wit: “What do you mean by the term 'human being'?”
( Read more... )
.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN . . . HUMAN?”
by John W. Campbell, Jr.
from Astounding Science fiction
There are some questions that only small children and very great philosophers are supposed to ask—questions like “What is Death?” and “Where is God?”
And then there are some questions that, apparently, no one is supposed to ask at all; largely, I think, because people have gotten so many wrong answers down through the centuries, that it's been agreed-by-default not to ask the questions at all.
Science fiction, however, by its very existence, has been asking one question that belongs in the “Let's agree not to discuss it at all” category—of course, simply by implication, but nevertheless very persistently. To wit: “What do you mean by the term 'human being'?”
( Read more... )
