Here's my take on the song:
The first 2 lines are pretty straight forward. We (as human beings) always imagine how the future might be. We even write novels and movies depicting what we imagine. Whatever we imagine the future to be is fiction, obviously, because we can't see into the future.
The next two lines signify that dark underbelly of humanity. That darkside to the human psyche. We imagine possiblities, futures, new technologies and somewhere along the lines a negative thought, or idea works its way in. For example, someone develops a new technology that could stand to benefit mankind but someone poses the question, "How can this be turned into a weapon?". Like for example Lise Meitner, a physicist, who contributed to the discovery of nuclear fission. She wanted this technology to be able to help mankind while others wanted to turn it into a weapon. Or sometimes that "dark idea" is born out of fear, like in Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. He imagined a future with robots that might eventually be turned against mankind or turn against us of their own freewill. We see movies that take place in the near future where an asteroid or a comet is headed for the earth. We see more sci-fi movies that have aliens, robots or Artificial Intelligences that are malicious than movies in which they're friendly or benign. So even when we try to imagine a positive future for ourselves a lot of the times we end up imagining a dark future that contains some disaster awaiting us.
Which leads to the last 2 lines.
The sun is sort of the great observer, which ties in with the whole Panopticon theme. The sun is always there, it may set but it always rises again. But aslo the sun is used to measure the passage of time. Which has a lot to do with what the song is about. And the last line is pretty straightforward. We can't hide from ourselves. We can't hide from our true nature. Which has to do with the first 4 lines. Even when whe try to imagine a bright, positive future there's always some trial or obstacle to overcome or some disaster awaiting us. This is just human nature. It's part of who we are as a species. Which is why so many people write novels and movies about a future that contains some underlying darkness, catastrophe or "...bones. Ugly in their nakedness." because it appeals to us and who we are.
Here's my take on the song: The first 2 lines are pretty straight forward. We (as human beings) always imagine how the future might be. We even write novels and movies depicting what we imagine. Whatever we imagine the future to be is fiction, obviously, because we can't see into the future. The next two lines signify that dark underbelly of humanity. That darkside to the human psyche. We imagine possiblities, futures, new technologies and somewhere along the lines a negative thought, or idea works its way in. For example, someone develops a new technology that could stand to benefit mankind but someone poses the question, "How can this be turned into a weapon?". Like for example Lise Meitner, a physicist, who contributed to the discovery of nuclear fission. She wanted this technology to be able to help mankind while others wanted to turn it into a weapon. Or sometimes that "dark idea" is born out of fear, like in Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. He imagined a future with robots that might eventually be turned against mankind or turn against us of their own freewill. We see movies that take place in the near future where an asteroid or a comet is headed for the earth. We see more sci-fi movies that have aliens, robots or Artificial Intelligences that are malicious than movies in which they're friendly or benign. So even when we try to imagine a positive future for ourselves a lot of the times we end up imagining a dark future that contains some disaster awaiting us. Which leads to the last 2 lines. The sun is sort of the great observer, which ties in with the whole Panopticon theme. The sun is always there, it may set but it always rises again. But aslo the sun is used to measure the passage of time. Which has a lot to do with what the song is about. And the last line is pretty straightforward. We can't hide from ourselves. We can't hide from our true nature. Which has to do with the first 4 lines. Even when whe try to imagine a bright, positive future there's always some trial or obstacle to overcome or some disaster awaiting us. This is just human nature. It's part of who we are as a species. Which is why so many people write novels and movies about a future that contains some underlying darkness, catastrophe or "...bones. Ugly in their nakedness." because it appeals to us and who we are.