Issac Asimov’s “Lecture on Humanity” provides one with some quite interesting and entirely plausible predictions and insights into the 21st century; a century in which, I and my peers, are now intelligent members of. Ideals such as population control, educated views on racism, sexism, education and the notion that “people are stupid,” are but some of the major issues Asimov expresses to his audience and which I believe should be adhered to.
Asimov goes into depth about the importance of our earth and keeping it alive. Noting the decrease in temperature, he delves into possible solutions. The main solution he talks about is population control; mainly because of the reality of the fact that we may, at some point in any given time, run our resources dry. Seeing as this prediction has more or less come true, I personally, agree with his outlook on this situation. Through our advances in medicine, human birthrate has gone up while, simultaneously the death rate has decreased; resulting in a staggering 6.9 billion people populating this earth; all alive and all using up resources. Hard, though it may be, to convince the majority of the human population that it is humane and for the good of the world, to limit their number of children, it is a step that is necessary and should be taken. The earth is not a ball of just infinite resources, and in order to sustain life on this planet, sacrifices are needed.
Another interesting topic Asimov relates is that of a changed view on education. His main argument being that education should not be viewed as something to not have to do when you reach a certain age. It should be something to strive for all your life. “Whatever it is you do that makes you happy, and adds to the joyousness of the world, is justified.” I feel like, today especially, this outlook on education is almost or halfway achieved. Nowadays, in order to be successful, or what society has defined as success, one must attain a college degree (going along with the idea that “I can be whatever I want to be, as long as I try.”) This idea of education being extremely important has been instilled in me since I walked those first steps to kindergarten, as it has for most other people. More and older citizens are going back to college in order to achieve their lifelong dream, whatever it may be. This ideal is one that should, most definitely, continue to live on.
While at times Asimov’s lecture was serious in nature, the element of humor was not lost. Going into iffy topics, such as sexism and racism, Asimov’s anecdotes certainly lightened the overall heaviness of the topic. Memorable and entertaining, this reading was one that I will not easily forget. This, I think added to the overall lasting effect it had not only on me, but on doubtless others who have read or listened to this. It is a grand thing to be able to make a person laugh, and to do so with highly important world issues makes Asimov’s talent unmatched.
Using the story “The Man Who Awoke” by Lawrence Manning, Asimov exemplifies synoptic philosophy. In this story the main character realizes, after allowing himself to “sleep” for 5’000 years, how everything done, connects back to each other, as is the aim of synoptic philosophy (the love of wisdom emerging from a coherent understanding of everything together). As for the rest of the “lecture” one could call it Critical Analysis. Going deep into topics such as men on the moon, Asimov analyzes the situation, possible rejections of it, and solutions, as he does with almost every other topic mentioned in this lecture.
As B. Torre once said “I sincerely doubt that this world will ever see another individual even close to his abilities ever again.”
