21.2: Childhood's End post-read w/ Seth Heasley: Religion, Psionics, and Big Ideas in Science Fiction

Spectology: The Science Fiction Book Club Podcast

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 Buckell's story The Very Last Curator of What Little Remains of the Western World (patreon pay wall)

---

As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at [e-mail], or submit the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment.

And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends!

Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.