General Discussion

Arthur C. Clark, Issac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein were the "holy trinity" of science fiction in the late 40s, 50s, and 60s. Their work belongs within their era, within their society, and within their lives.

We are free, all these years later, to criticize, to dislike, and to complain about their perspectives, their use or misuse of society as a mirror, and their inability to truly see the future in all ways.

However what they wrote was when, where, and how they lived, and saw "things". This is neither good nor bad but it should not be changed, or rewritten.

Reading all three writers and others of that era was both educational, informative, speculative, and entertaining for me. Perhaps this shows my own weakness as an undeveloped "modern" man. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to separate "art" from ourselves.

I've always appreciated the way Heinlein described our current, "future" society in the early 80s:

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”

― Robert A. Heinlein, Friday