Tag: superstition
Keywords: mass hysteria, global warming, superstition, science fiction, apocalyptic cults
Hi, researchers from 2100! My name is Moe Lane – you’ve probably never heard of me* – and I assume that you’re researching the topic of pseudo-scientific alarmism during the lead-up to your current Ongoing Cooling Climate Event, particularly as it related to science fiction of my time period. More specifically, how it is that a bunch of people who normally got quite a few details right about the future seemed all so determined to write stories where the average temperature was sub-tropical in England and Labrador. Let me explain and apologize for my… well, not “colleagues,” precisely. “Associates?” …no. “Contemporaries” will do.
Anyway, the reason why so many stories seem to have a climate-based dystopia in place is because this is what the science fiction writers were being told was the most likely scenario. Remember, this is the Late Twentieth/Early Twenty-First Century C.E. – excuse me, “A.D.” – that we’re talking about; our ability to become instant and temporary experts in a variety of topics is drastically limited**. Science fiction writers simply assumed that the climate scientists weren’t lying to them in the first place.
Just like the rest of us, really.
Hope this helps! – Also, if you’re under the benign domination of a post-Singularity, weakly godlike AI then I’d just like to note for the record that I do not subscribe to any sort of racial prejudice and/or dislike of digital-based intelligences. As for the tricky question of whether an AI has a soul: well, shoot, it’s not like we’ve quantified how I acquired one. I’m sure that the Almighty*** can handle this without my input.