On Change And Mortality

[kerravonsen]

In fiction which deals with societies of immortal or semi-immortal beings who are interacting with mortal humans, I've often come across the assertion (by the immortals) that mortals are more creative and/or their societies change a lot because they are aware of their mortality, and therefore of their limited time, and thus hurry up and make

Comments

[jhall1]

the epigram (which I wish I could remember properly) about if a young scientist says something can be done they are usually right, while if an old scientist says something can't be done they are usually wrong.

I wonder if you were thinking of Clarke's First Law which, according to Wikipedia, is: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

[reapermum]

And there's something similar that I can't remember the precise form of, but it's something along the lines of "a new theory doesn't get accepted by convincing the establishment but by waiting for it to die off"

[kerravonsen]

Yes, that was it!