Childhood's End

by Arthur C. Clarke

Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets.

Why the devil won’t he show himself?

Western man had relearned—what the rest of the world had never forgotten—that there was nothing sinful in leisure as long as it did not degenerate into mere sloth.

Utopia was here at last: its novelty had not yet been assailed by the supreme enemy of all Utopias—boredom.

No Utopia can ever give satisfaction to everyone, all the time. As their material conditions improve, men raise their sights and become discontented with power and possessions that once would have seemed beyond their wildest dreams. And even when the external world has granted all it can, there still remain the searchings of the mind and the longings of the heart.

Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day? Soon people won’t be living their own lives any more. It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on