Last and First Men · Chapter
IV: Conflicting Policies explained
The Third Men, having achieved a stable and biologically advanced society, begin to debate the future direction of human evolution.
What happens
The Third Men, having achieved a stable and biologically advanced society, begin to debate the future direction of human evolution. Orthodox opinion favors gradual improvement of the existing human form, while a second party advocates breeding specialized mediums to communicate with the afterlife, and a third, more radical faction proposes the creation of a being purely dedicated to intelligence. The governing caste opposes the latter, but a secret group within it decides to pursue the project clandestinely.
Themes in this chapter
Human Nature and Evolution
The chapter centers on the deliberate reshaping of human nature through biological and eugenic policies, exploring conflicting visions of what humanity should become.
Immortality and Death
The Third Men's preoccupation with personal immortality drives one faction to seek communication with the afterlife, reflecting the enduring human desire to transcend death.
Technology and Its Dangers
The proposal to breed a purely intellectual being, relegating all organic functions to machinery, highlights the potential dangers of technological and biological manipulation.
Characters to notice
- The Third Men
The focus of this chapter, as they debate and implement policies for their own further evolution.
- The First Men
Mentioned as having had a strong craving for personal immortality, influencing the Third Men's preoccupation.
- The Second Men
Noted for their detachment, yet sometimes persuaded by admiration for human personality to believe in immortal souls.
- The Great Brains
The secret project aims to breed a being that is 'nothing but man,' with brain as the sole focus, potentially leading to the Great Brains.
Key passages
“The orthodox desired only to continue the work that had for long been on foot; though they proposed greater enterprise and coordination. They would perfect man’s body, but upon its present plan; they would perfect his mind, but without seeking to introduce anything new in essence.”
The conservative faction wanted to keep improving humans along the same lines as before, enhancing body and mind but without making any fundamental changes.
This sets up the central conflict between gradual improvement and radical transformation.
“We must produce an organism which shall be no mere bundle of relics left over from its primitive ancestors and precariously ruled by a glimmer of intelligence. We must produce a man who is nothing but man.”
We need to create a being that is not just a collection of leftover primitive traits with a small amount of intelligence, but one that is purely and entirely human, with intelligence as its defining feature.
This is the radical proposal that leads to the secret breeding project.
“The governing caste were strongly opposed to this policy. They declared that, if it succeeded, it would only produce a most inharmonious being whose nature would violate all the principles of vital aesthetics.”
The rulers rejected the plan, arguing that it would create a being that was unbalanced and contrary to the principles of biological beauty and harmony.
The opposition is based on aesthetic and ethical grounds, but also possibly on fear of losing power.