The Sci Fi Catholic Yak Module
"Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, etc., ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth."
Ummmmmmmm...the mothers that I know have no delusions about the goodness of their children. They may exaggerate the beauty and intelligence of their offspring, but of the vices of their children they are more than aware.
My take on this is that Heinlein wants to come up with something to say about children more "original" than "The only reason mothers don't murder their children is because they love them." Like most people who emphasize being "original," Heinlein is wrong.
Re science fiction: I think we're in an age of transition, and when that age ends, so will science fiction. Eventually, we'll stop developing new technologies, reconcile ourselves to the ones we have, and replace science fiction with pure fantasy. (Then again, "eventually" probably means in a millenium or so.) That's just a theory.
Histor
A very original theory...so is it wrong?
I'm not sure you can point to any time in human history where invention ceased. I don't see any reason why it should cease in the future, either. I suppose its pace may slow down, and technology may be lost, but I do not imagine it will ever stabilize or halt.
As for science fiction, there is some evidence that it is a compensation. Its popularity decreased markedly during the height of the space program. When the space program got in a rut, science fiction became popular again. For that reason, I dislike sf novels like Stephen Lawhead's Empyrion that feature space opera fans living in a space opera universe. That doesn't ring true to me; if the real world is a space opera, why would we have space opera fanboys?
By contrast, I can easily picture avid readers of nostalgic adventure sf living in a cyberpunk universe. I suppose, though I've never seen it done, that someone might convince me that a cyberpunk fan could live in a space opera universe, too.
As for fantasy (which I use here as a general term for fanciful storytelling), that you have always had and will always have with you.
Commenting by HaloScan
