Tragedies such as Nevil Shute’s ‘On the Beach’ and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr Strangelove’ are so powerful because there’s an underlying assumption that this did not have to happen. It is empowering. David Brin Read Quote
The fundamental premise of sci-fi is not spaceships and lasers – it’s that children can learn from the mistakes of their parents. David Brin Read Quote
Whenever I see a new film, I deliberately tune down several ‘dials’ in my mind – critical faculties associated with logic, plotting, science – just so I can retain some ability to enjoy a flick in the spirit it’s offered. David Brin Read Quote
In ‘The Transparent Society,’ I am actually no radical. I accept that some secrecy is necessary and avow that human beings have an intrinsic need for some privacy. David Brin Read Quote
Writing can be taken up at any point. But you need to remember that the arts are fundamentally unfair. Hard work and diligence won’t necessarily take you all the way. Talent, nepotism, influence, and pure luck play a huge part. David Brin Read Quote
Liberal interventions that enable all children to shoot for their potential aren’t just moral, they are pragmatic – any society that wastes talent to poverty or oppression isn’t just evil: it is stupid. David Brin Read Quote
The Enlightenment diamond-shaped society, with a huge, prosperous, socially-mobile, empowered middle class, is by far the most productive and creative system the world has ever seen. David Brin Read Quote
Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on. David Brin Read Quote
