Last and First Men · Chapter
III: A Minor Astronomical Event explained
The Eighth Men, a new human species, build a technologically advanced civilization on Venus.
What happens
The Eighth Men, a new human species, build a technologically advanced civilization on Venus. They discover that the sun will soon become a white dwarf, prompting plans to migrate to Mercury. However, a new astronomical discovery reveals that a non-luminous gas cloud will collide with the sun, making Venus uninhabitable. The Eighth Men then focus on colonizing Neptune, creating the Ninth Men for this purpose. After establishing the colony, the dark stranger collides with Saturn and disrupts the solar system, leaving the sun transformed.
Themes in this chapter
Technology and Its Dangers
The Eighth Men's advanced technology allows them to manipulate planets, but it cannot save them from cosmic catastrophe.
Immortality and Death
The species faces extinction and must create a new species to survive, highlighting the transience of individual forms.
Cosmic Indifference and Meaning
The universe's indifference is shown by the random collision that destroys their world, yet humanity persists in seeking meaning.
Characters to notice
- The Eighth Men
The dominant species on Venus, engineers and scientists who detect the solar catastrophe and plan the migration to Neptune.
- The Ninth Men
A specially designed human species transported to Neptune to carry on civilization.
- Venus
The home planet of the Eighth Men, which becomes uninhabitable due to the solar collision.
- Neptune
The distant planet chosen as the new home for humanity, where the Ninth Men are established.
Key passages
“The flightless yet still half avian race that now possessed the planet settled down to construct a society based on industry and science.”
The new human species, descended from winged ancestors, built an industrial and scientific civilization.
Introduces the Eighth Men and their societal foundation.
“The Eighth Men detected sure signs of the catastrophe, and predicted its date.”
The Eighth Men identified clear warnings of the sun's collapse and calculated when it would happen.
Highlights their scientific foresight.
“The only hope was to migrate to Mercury during the great change, when that planet was already ceasing to be intolerably hot.”
Their only chance was to move to Mercury as it cooled down during the solar transformation.
Initial plan for survival.
“Astronomers detected, some distance from the solar system, a volume of non-luminous gas.”
Astronomers found a dark gas cloud near the solar system.
Discovery that changes everything.
“The giant Eighth Men could not themselves inhabit Neptune.”
The Eighth Men were too large and heavy to live on Neptune.
Reason for creating the Ninth Men.
“Like a finger poked into a spider's web, it tangled up the planetary orbits.”
The dark stranger disrupted the orbits of the planets like a finger disturbing a spider's web.
Vivid description of the cosmic collision's effect.