Last and First Men

you may wonder how we permit ourselves to have any children at all. 78 00:23:59,255 --> 00:24:05,588 Our policy is to produce new individuals of a higher order than ourselves. 79 00:24:10,463 --> 00:24:14,630 As a result, we need a continuous supply of children. 80 00:24:22,213 --> 00:24:24,922 The fetus is carried for twenty years. 81 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,463 Infancy lasts for about a century 82 00:24:30,630 --> 00:24:34,797 when the foundations of body and mind are slowly laid. 83 00:25:04,422 --> 00:25:11,130 When our children attain physical adolescence, nearly a thousand years after birth, 84 00:25:11,297 --> 00:25:16,297 they leave the safe paths of childhood to spend another thousand years 85 00:25:16,463 --> 00:25:21,880 in one of the polar continents known as the Land of the Young. 86 00:25:28,130 --> 00:25:33,880 There, our young people live the half-primitive, half-sophisticated life 87 00:25:34,047 --> 00:25:36,463 that suits their nature. 88 00:25:40,130 --> 00:25:41,963 They love 89 00:25:43,297 --> 00:25:45,130 and hate. 90 00:28:19,755 --> 00:28:23,963 We live through all the mistakes of thought and action 91 00:28:24,130 --> 00:28:27,422 that humankind has ever made. 92 00:28:29,005 --> 00:28:34,755 And, at last, we emerge ready for a world of maturity. 93 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:46,213 The designers of our species set out to produce a new order of mentality 94 00:29:46,380 --> 00:29:50,922 in a system of distinct brains held in telepathic unity. 95 00:29:55,463 --> 00:30:00,505 The immense difference between ourselves and all other human species 96 00:30:00,672 --> 00:30:04,005 lies in the group-mind. 97 00:30:46,088 --> 00:30:50,672 When these individuals join in simultaneous mental unity, 98 00:30:51,380 --> 00:30:56,463 the entire past of the species appears as a personal memory. 99 00:31:22,838 --> 00:31:25,922 They are able to enter into past minds. 100 00:32:19,047 --> 00:32:25,213 Away from those contented to remain on the planet's surface are the navigators 101 00:32:25,380 --> 00:32:29,880 who embody humanity's proud mastery of interstellar space. 102 00:32:34,505 --> 00:32:39,672 The navigators mentally form a unique class among us 103 00:32:39,838 --> 00:32:42,463 because they spend so much of their time 104 00:32:42,630 --> 00:32:47,005 in the empty regions beyond the range of telepathic communication. 105 00:32:54,297 --> 00:32:58,130 They are a hardy, simple, and modest folk. 106 00:34:13,088 --> 00:34:19,338 Recently, an exploration ship returned from a voyage into the outer tracts through space. 107 00:34:22,755 --> 00:34:25,380 Half the crew had died. 108 00:34:28,838 --> 00:34:31,422 The survivors were emaciated 109 00:34:34,088 --> 00:34:36,588 and mentally unbalanced. 110 00:34:38,963 --> 00:34:42,838 Throughout the voyage, an unexpected alteration 111 00:34:43,005 --> 00:34:46,547 taking place in a neighboring star was observed. 112 00:34:50,088 --> 00:34:55,922 It began to change from white to violet and increase in brightness. 113 00:35:03,713 --> 00:35:07,797 When the ship returned, the crew flung open the ports 114 00:35:07,963 --> 00:35:11,713 and staggered blubbering into the arms of the crowd. 115 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,880 These poor human wrecks have shown a phobia of the stars 116 00:35:23,047 --> 00:35:25,547 and of all that is not human. 117 00:35:28,422 --> 00:35:30,880 They dare not go out at night. 118 00:35:32,297 --> 00:35:34,797 They cannot find companionship. 119 00:35:39,213 --> 00:35:43,630 They cling piteously to the sweets of individual life, 120 00:35:47,297 --> 00:35:50,297 a mere defense against reality. 121 00:37:54,547 --> 00:37:56,672 Listen patiently. 122 00:38:01,172 --> 00:38:05,172 The navigators have made a startling discovery. 123 00:38:07,380 --> 00:38:09,797 It is something unprecedented: 124 00:38:11,713 --> 00:38:17,922 a normal star suffering from a fantastic acceleration of its vital process. 125 00:38:20,297 --> 00:38:26,588 We hoped that our sun might prove too distant to be seriously influenced, 126 00:38:26,755 --> 00:38:29,838 but this hope had to be abandoned. 127 00:38:31,588 --> 00:38:34,213 Within thirty thousand years, 128 00:38:34,380 --> 00:38:39,672 life will be impossible anywhere within a vast radius of the sun - 129 00:38:39,838 --> 00:38:42,047 so vast a radius 130 00:38:42,213 --> 00:38:46,880 that it is quite impossible to propel our planet away fast enough to escape. 131 00:40:54,505 --> 00:41:00,047 The discovery of this doom kindled in us unfamiliar emotions. 132 00:41:15,422 --> 00:41:20,172 Outwardly, everyone behaved with perfect serenity, 133 00:41:23,005 --> 00:41:26,922 but inwardly, every mind was in turmoil 134 00:41:27,088 --> 00:41:30,838 as we faced the sudden destruction of our world.