Thursday, 13 August 2020

Comprehensive SF

In discussing Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, we discuss:

history;
mythology;
logic;
quantum mechanics;
futurology.

The characters include:

historical figures;
mythological deities;
futurians;
paradoxical time travelers.

I regard Wells' The Time Machine as a partial conceptual precursor of Time Patrol, although it is not alone in that role. Also, the Time Patrol series complements other speculative fiction by Anderson. Between them, all of these works help us to formulate a very comprehensive question.

Will mankind:

devolve into Morlocks and Eloi;
evolve into Danellians;
create its successors, AIs;
destroy itself in the Chaos;
spread through several spiral arms?

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I'm skeptical about the second possibility you listed. And I far prefer the fifth alternative. The others, alas, are all too possible, IMO. E.g., see "Murphy's Hall," "In Memoriam," or "Welcome."

Ad astra! Sean