"T. K. F. Weisskopf - Cosmic Tales - Adventures in the Sol System" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weisskopf T.K.F)

- Prologue

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 - Prologue




INTRODUCTION
Why do we need tales about "Strange adventures on other worlds, the
universe of the future"?
T.K.F. Weisskopf

"To imagine is not to fashion charming make-believe. . . . Out of the known or knowable,
Imagination connects the remote, reinterprets the familiar, or discovers hidden realities."

тАФFrom From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, Jacques Barzun




As I write this it is the eve of the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight off the North
Carolina dunes. And I have come to realize that I am not going to be living in the age of humanity's
great expansion into space. I will not be on the Nina, the Pinta nor the Santa Maria, let alone the
Mayflower. Instead, I am living in the age of St. Brendan and Lief the Lucky. I can witness humanity's
first tentative steps in the direction of the endless frontierтАФbut the chances of me, personally, getting
out there are small. Still, at least I can read stories about it! If we as a species are going to get there, we
have to remember that we want to go.
I've long thought that it's one of science fiction's most important jobs to explore the future in fiction.
Decisions about what kind of future we want to aim for can be played out in the pages of our magazines
and novels. As Travis Taylor's story and article illustrate, the dreams of the writers become the dreams
of the engineers and scientists who shape the direction of our technology. You want to make a difference
in the worldтАФwrite science fiction that will touch the hearts of these people.
It seems obvious to me that staying on one planet is a dead end for humanity. And I like humanity, in
general, if not all its specific manifestations. Flush from conquering a new continent Americans of the
early twentieth century had a positive vision of the future. We in the West went from horse-drawn
carriages to rockets in less than fifty years. Now, in darker times, we seem to be on the road to losing the
stars, losing the urge to explore. Science fiction needs to clear away the light pollution and show us the
glories of the stars again. Show us where we can go next. Show us where progress should lead.
One of the most positive visions we can have of the conquest of space is that it will be strange and
dangerous, but also in some ways familiar. There will be humans, living their everyday lives, albeit in
exotic locations and only because of amazing technological developments. Several of the stories herein
describe that kind of existence. And some take us a little farther beyond. . . . There is beauty and wonder
in this universe, and whether man makes it his business or God ordains it, it is a noble calling to answer