The Future According to Stanisław Lem

Re:The Future According to Stanisław Lem by EthanHeilman on Saturday September 13, 2014 @02:40PM (#8313178)

I often encourage people to view current events from the 30,000 foot view of Stapledon, but people don't this naturally. Recent events loom extremely large in our minds. To my surprise US policy people have told me that the United States will "never end".

Do you think 'Last and First Men' changed your perspective?

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Re:The Future According to Stanisław Lem by jacquesm on Saturday September 13, 2014 @03:03PM (#8313229)

Absolutely, and the 'everything is temporary' bit really hit me. It makes you look in a completely different way at your own life, both the parts already past and the parts still in the future. Think 'total perspective vortex' but without cheating.

The timescale of the book is staggering. It's like that 'pale blue dot' picture.

http://www.wscribe.com/parables/pass.html

For those that haven't read the book or that don't have access to it, the book follows the 'first men' (us) and their successors across billions of years. Not all movement in time is progress and not all change is natural. Very much recommended, I won't write any more here to not spoil the book for future readers.

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Re:The Future According to Stanisław Lem by rbanffy on Sunday September 14, 2014 @08:44AM (#8315103)

> US policy people have told me that the United States will "never end".

Cut them some slack. If they say anything different it's likely some lunatic will label them "unamerican". While the country, as it presently stands, will not endure for long in a planetary timescale, we'll be fortunate if some of the core ideals behind its foundation last for a longer time and help guide our descendants into the deep future.

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