side probe #3

SCIENCE FICTION AS REAR-VIEW MIRROR

The inability of those involved in any involuntary or unexpected change to become aware of the causes of the change, is an abiding human limitation. The renaissance philosopher, Giambatista Vico, regarded this inability as so pervasive that he dubbed it an "universal principle" uniting all humanity.

A movie like 2001 belongs to 1901, or even to the world of Jules Verne. It is filled with nineteenth century hardware and Newtonian imagey. It has few, if any, twentieth-century qualities. This is natural. The public is not capable of being entertained by awareness of its own condition. Fish do not care to think about water, or men about air pollution.

The New Yorker cartoonist was right when, in portraying two fish on the sand, to have one oberve: "This is where the action is." A marvelous parallel is the teacher's query, "What does the twentieth century owe to Thomas Edison?" and the student's reply, "Without Edison, we would all be watching TV by candlelight."