Simon Pegg on how sci-fi can be a better guide to the unknown than religion

Simon Pegg is returning to the ‘Mission Impossible’ series as the technician-turned-field agent, Benji. It’s the latest immersion in a string of roles that have led Pegg down the digital wormhole of speculating about the future. 

From ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ (where Pegg plays the despicable junk monster Unkar Plutt) to ‘Ready Player One’, he acknowledges that oftentimes what starts off as impossible sci-fi ends up as actual science. Kind of like when ‘Star Trek’ first presented the idea of communicators, now commonly known as mobile phones. 

“We’re sort of prone to hoping for more than everyday experience – that’s where religion comes from. It’s the need for knowledge because the unknown is scary.” 

And from the perspective of an atheist, says Pegg, religion’s “fabricated idea of magic and stories” is far less plausible than the intentionally fabricated ideas presented in sci-fi, many of which are prescriptive enough to become fact one day. 

See Also: Simon Pegg Tests His ‘Mission Impossible’ Spy Knowledge