On Literature: On Mutation (From Fiction to Science-Fiction)

"It was a species which often considered itself to be, basically, a race of divinely inspired toolmakers; any intelligent entity from Arcturus would instantly have perceived them to be, basically, a race of impassioned after-dinner speech-makers." (Walter M Miller Jr, "A Canticle for Leibowitz", 1959)

"Species evolve to meet the environment. An intelligent species changes the environment to suit itself. As soon as a species becomes intelligent, it should stop evolving." (Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, "The Mote in God’s Eye", 1974)

"We are only the beginning of humanity, the larval stage, the species preparing for its discovery of what intelligence is for. We will survive and develop, each crest a little higher than the one before." (George Turner, "Drowning Towers", 1987)

"It is unusual for us to discover an imperial power-system in space. As a rule, such archaic forms of authority wither long before the relevant species drags itself off the home planet." (Iain M Banks, "The Player of Games", 1988)

"The great thing about being the only species that makes a distinction between right and wrong is that we can make up the rules for ourselves as we go along." (Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See", 1990)

"Somewhere in its history, every technological species will make the tools to become godlike. Immortal citizens will be capable of building worlds, or obliterating them. How a species responds to the challenge... well, that’s what determines its fate, more often than not." (Robert Reed, "Sister Alice", 1993)

"It is a paradox of Life that all species breed past mere replacement. Any paradise of plenty soon fills to become paradise no more." (David Brin, "Brightness Reef", 1995)

"Mutation. It is the key to our evolution. It is how we have evolved from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward." (Michael Dougherty,% et al, "X2: X-Men United", [film] 2003)

"Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever. You can go not only into the future, but into that wonderful place called "other", which is simply another universe, another planet, another species." (Theodore Sturgeon)