Spectology

Seth Heasley of the Hugos There podcast (https://hugospodcast.com) joins us to discuss Arthur C. Clarke's 1950s classic, Childhood's End (https://amzn.to/2srqLWa). This is a short book about big ideas, asking what would happen if aliens came to Earth and instituted a generations-long paternalistic program to get us ready for our next stage of evolution.  We discuss the book's major influence on science fiction, from Vinge, Niven, & Stephenson, to anime like Akira, to The Three-Body Problem. We dig deep into the books politics around colonialism. And we ask what it would be like to live through a society that has everything it could want, but knows that it's no longer in charge of its own destiny. Here's a short list of other things we discussed on the episode. Links at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. * Jo Walton on Childhood's End  * Adrian on Hugos There discussing The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin  * All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace  * Tobias Buck