On the other other hand, maybe we only understand the dangers of the Torment Nexus and use it responsibly because science fiction authors warned techy people who are into that subject about how it could go wrong, and the people who grew up reading those books went out of their way to avoid those flaws. We do seem to have a lot more of the technologies that sci-fi didn’t predict causing severe problems in our society.
But this is exactly contrary to my point, a science fiction author isn’t qualified or motivated to give a realistic “understanding” of the Torment Nexus. His skillset is focused on writing stories and the stories he writes need to contain danger and conflict, so he’s not necessarily going to interpret the idea of the Torment Nexus in a realistic way.
Nope. Isaac Asimov was a biochemist, why would he be particularly qualified to determine whether robots are safe? Arthur C. Clarke had a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics, which technology was he an expert in? Heinlein got a bachelor of arts in engineering equivalent degree from the US Naval Academy, that’s the closest yet to having an “understanding of technology.” Which ones did he write about?
On the other other hand, maybe we only understand the dangers of the Torment Nexus and use it responsibly because science fiction authors warned techy people who are into that subject about how it could go wrong, and the people who grew up reading those books went out of their way to avoid those flaws. We do seem to have a lot more of the technologies that sci-fi didn’t predict causing severe problems in our society.
But this is exactly contrary to my point, a science fiction author isn’t qualified or motivated to give a realistic “understanding” of the Torment Nexus. His skillset is focused on writing stories and the stories he writes need to contain danger and conflict, so he’s not necessarily going to interpret the idea of the Torment Nexus in a realistic way.
So Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein aren’t qualified to give understandings of the technologies they wrote about?
Nope. Isaac Asimov was a biochemist, why would he be particularly qualified to determine whether robots are safe? Arthur C. Clarke had a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics, which technology was he an expert in? Heinlein got a bachelor of arts in engineering equivalent degree from the US Naval Academy, that’s the closest yet to having an “understanding of technology.” Which ones did he write about?