Speculists in History
Who knows whether, when a comet shall approach this globe to destroy it, as it often has been and will be destroyed, men will not tear rocks from their foundations by means of steam, and hurl mountains, as the giants are said to have done, against the flaming mass? - And then we shall have traditions of Titans again, and of wars with Heaven.
- Lord Byron (who was a Gordon, well, heh, sort of).
Comments
Very cool quote! Plus the Wikipedia stuff about Lord Byron's last name was a lot more complicated than I expected.
Also notable -- Mary Shelley got the idea for her novel Frankenstein while she and her husband were staying with Byron.
Posted by: Phil Bowermaster | July 22, 2008 09:04 PM
Reading that quote its not surprising that a member of Byron's social circle - Shelly - would invent science fiction.
Posted by: Stephen Gordon | July 24, 2008 07:29 PM
I didn't know that Byron ever said anything like this. Maybe it's not such a coincidence that the concept of software is due to his daughter, the mathematician Ada Lovelace, although it's hard for me to imagine that he was much of a parent.
Posted by: Matt Duing | July 26, 2008 11:50 AM