Blish on Knowledge
Although Blish addressed the question whether the desire for secular
knowledge is evil, there is no doubt about his answer to it, as
expressed through other characters.
In another work, an alien says:
“This
organism dies now. It dies in confidence of knowledge, as an
intelligent creature dies. Man has taught us this. There is nothing.
That knowledge. Cannot do. With it…men…have crossed…have crossed
space…” 35
Blish’s major character, Amalfi, says:
“That’s the priceless coin, gentlemen, the universal coin: human knowledge.” 36
When the universe ends, a scientist pronounces the:
“…epitaph for Man: We did not have time to learn everything that we wanted to know.” 37
And that is a fitting epitaph for James Blish.
-copied from here.
Anderson:
"What the astronauts have found in the tiny time granted them is astonishingly great: not material wealth, but the stuff of knowledge, whence all else arises."
-Poul Anderson, Explorations (New York, 1981), Introduction, pp. 7-11 AT p. 10.
-copied from here.
Anderson:
"What the astronauts have found in the tiny time granted them is astonishingly great: not material wealth, but the stuff of knowledge, whence all else arises."
-Poul Anderson, Explorations (New York, 1981), Introduction, pp. 7-11 AT p. 10.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And there's so much more we can should discover and learn, if we only got off this rock and into space in a DECISIVE way! And we cam sure that knowledge will have unexpected and unpredictable ramifications, applications, implications, etc., leading on to more knowledge we would never have otherwise found out.
Ad astra, for real! Sean
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