On "Lost in Non-translation"

Isaac Asimov was one of the most distinguished writers of the twentieth century. He owns the phrase "science fiction writer" in a lot of people's minds.



I became acquainted with his work at the beginning of this year, reading the original three Foundation books (a favorite of Elon Musk's). They were well done. Not really my cup of tea, but obviously well thought out, creative, and well crafted.

Recently, a book at the library smacked me in the face. Metaphorically, that is. When this happens more times than not I will check said book out.

As you may have guessed, this time it was an Asimov. Title: Magic.

The book was divided into three sections: "The Final Fantasy Stories," "On Fantasy," and "Beyond Fantasy."

Part One is fiction, comprised of, in my opinion, mostly lackluster stories. The remaining two sections were worth toiling through the first, however.

Part Two and Three are non-fiction articles of the highest caliber. Asimov gives brilliant insights into a whole host of topics, including issues we as a race are still struggling with today.

I found one article in Part Three, entitled "Lost in Non-Translation," especially pertinent, given the recent events in the United States.

Here is the closing section of the article:

Well, then, we have in the Bible two examples--in the Book of Ruth and in the Parable of the Good Samaritan--of teachings that are lost in non-translation, yet are terribly applicable to us today.

 The whole world over, there are confrontations between sections of mankind defined by race, nationality, economic philosophy, religion, or language as belonging to different groups, so that one is not "neighbor" to the other.

These more or less arbitrary differences among peoples who are members of a single biological species are terribly dangerous and nowhere more so than here in the United States where the most perilous confrontation (I need not tell you) is between white and black.

Next to the population problem generally, mankind faces no danger greater than this confrontation, particularly in the United States.

It seems to me that more and more, each year, both whites and blacks are turning, in anger and hatred, to violence. I see no reasonable end to the steady escalation but an actual civil war...

And why? Is it so hard to recognize that we are all neighbors, after all? Can we, on both sides--on both sides--find no way of accepting the biblical lesson?

Or if quoting the Bible sounds too mealymouthed and if repeating the words of Jesus seems too pietistic, let's put it another way, a practical way:

Is the privilege of feeling hatred so luxurious a sensation that it is worth the martial and spiritual hell of a white-black civil war?

If the answer is really "yes," then one can only despair.

These words, to me, seem to have a horrifyingly high chance of becoming prophecy.

This needs to stop. We're all human beings; any granfalloon you associate with is a way to differentiate and isolate when, in reality, we're one in the same. If a collaborative solution is not reached, forget worrying about AI, VR, global warming, and super volcanoes.

We'll all simply kill ourselves. Collective, societal suicide.