Science & Tech Quote by Stanley Schmidt

“Sticking strictly to presently known science” is framed here as a kind of timid virtue, the intellectual equivalent of staying parked because the map is outdated. Schmidt’s move is sly: he concedes the authority of science while undermining the idea that today’s consensus should be treated as a hard boundary on imagination. The phrase “I will simply point out” carries a quiet impatience, like he’s humoring a gatekeeper who thinks realism means never being surprised.

The real work happens in the reminder that “we have already experienced at least two major revolutions in science in this century alone.” It’s a compact argument from recent history: if the ground truth has shifted dramatically within living memory, then using “presently known” as a policing tool is less about rigor and more about comfort. Schmidt isn’t anti-science; he’s anti-complacency. He’s warning against a common rhetorical trick where “science” becomes a synonym for “what I’m used to,” especially in debates about speculative ideas.

Context matters: Schmidt is a science-fiction writer and longtime editor, speaking from a genre that lives or dies by its relationship to plausibility. SF is often scolded to “respect the science,” and Schmidt’s retort is that science itself is an evolving storyline, punctuated by abrupt plot twists. The subtext is permission: don’t confuse current textbooks with the universe’s final draft.