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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 2015945" data-attributes="member: 158">I don't take such a nihilistic view, as I believe that humans CAN improve over the long term. However, what you see in fiction is simply the manifestation of our fears as human beings over things that we cannot understand, and these fears simply take the form of whatever is "cutting edge" in the public conscious. In the Medieval period, it was fears of godless heathens, or demons and devils that could subvert humans to their will - when in actuality everything from diseases to religious conflicts were the actual culprit. In the 1950's movies about atomic energy experiments going awry were the big boogeyman of the period - before things like nuclear power plants and the true facts about long-term exposure to radiation became commonplace. In the 1940's, artificial intelligence had become a hot button topic among academics, and the two more famous writers of the period, Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, asked the questions that played into those fears. Anything new and cutting edge has the potential to be immensely useful - or insanely devastating, and it's the eternal pessimist in humankind that takes these fears and blows them into some very good entertainment, with the hint of cautionary tale built in.I guess the old adage, "better the devil you know" is appropriate?</blockquote>