Last and First Men · Chapter
III: Voyaging in Space explained
The Fifth Men, grappling with a profound social melancholy, are confronted by a startling physical crisis: the moon's orbit is inexplicably shrinking, threatening eventual disintegration and catastrophe.
What happens
The Fifth Men, grappling with a profound social melancholy, are confronted by a startling physical crisis: the moon's orbit is inexplicably shrinking, threatening eventual disintegration and catastrophe. Faced with the impossibility of remaining on Earth, they turn their scientific and cultural ingenuity toward space exploration, devising ether-ships powered by matter annihilation. Their goal becomes the colonization of Venus, a hostile world requiring massive terraforming efforts, including electrolysis of its oceans and the introduction of engineered vegetation. This chapter explores the tension between love for their native planet and the necessity of leaving it, as well as the immense challenges of adapting to a new world.
Themes in this chapter
Technology and Its Dangers
The Fifth Men's advanced technology, while enabling space travel, also reveals the fragility of their scientific worldview when confronted with an inexplicable cosmic event.
Cosmic Indifference and Meaning
The moon's inexplicable behavior is perceived as a 'fiend' interfering with natural laws, highlighting the universe's indifference to human plans and the search for meaning in a hostile cosmos.
Humanity and the Other
The Fifth Men's encounter with Venus as a radically different world forces them to confront the limits of their own nature and the possibility of transformation.
Characters to notice
- The Fifth Men
The central species of this chapter, facing an existential crisis and undertaking ambitious space exploration and terraforming projects.
- The First Men
Referenced as having earlier theories about the moon's orbit, which the Fifth Men have confirmed and extended.
- Venus
The target planet for colonization, described as hostile with a dense, oxygen-poor atmosphere and a nearly global ocean.
- Mars
Considered as an alternative destination but dismissed due to lack of water and atmosphere.
- The Moon
The celestial body whose anomalous behavior triggers the crisis, described as a 'fiend out of some ancient myth.'
Key passages
“It was discovered that something queer was happening to the moon; in fact, that the orbit of the satellite was narrowing in upon the earth in a manner contrary to all the calculations of the scientists.”
The Fifth Men found that the moon's orbit was unexpectedly shrinking, defying all their scientific predictions.
This sets the stage for the central crisis of the chapter.
“It was as though a fiend out of some ancient myth had come to life in the modern world, to interfere with the laws of nature for man's undoing.”
The moon's behavior seemed like a malevolent supernatural force disrupting the natural order.
Highlights the sense of cosmic hostility and the limits of scientific understanding.
“Man looked upon his future home with loathing, and on his birthplace with an affection which became passionate.”
The Fifth Men despised Venus as their future home while feeling an intense love for Earth.
Captures the emotional conflict between survival and attachment to one's origins.