I love this, but I'm going to play devil's advocate and say the people who think they are gods - the Putins, the Johsnons, the Elon Musks - do not read novels like this. They probably don't read novels at all, though (perhaps) they may have been forced to read a few at school. And even if they did, they have none of the brain space to develop empathy and care for those "lesser" beings who provide their wealth/power.
BUT for those of us on the receiving end of their manipulations of the universe, novels give us a means to escape, to understand, to realise there are other ways of doing things. Hence so many novels being banned in so many places: they give us proles ideas and, worst of all, an escape, however temporary. Once we have tasted that freedom, what might we not do?
I love this, but I'm going to play devil's advocate and say the people who think they are gods - the Putins, the Johsnons, the Elon Musks - do not read novels like this. They probably don't read novels at all, though (perhaps) they may have been forced to read a few at school. And even if they did, they have none of the brain space to develop empathy and care for those "lesser" beings who provide their wealth/power.
BUT for those of us on the receiving end of their manipulations of the universe, novels give us a means to escape, to understand, to realise there are other ways of doing things. Hence so many novels being banned in so many places: they give us proles ideas and, worst of all, an escape, however temporary. Once we have tasted that freedom, what might we not do?