Part 21 (2/2)
Civilization has been restored, s.n.a.t.c.hed from the very brink of a barbarism that threatened to engulf us.”
”Nonsense,” Thurmon murmured.
”What?”
”Sheer nonsense, Littlejohn. You're talking like a pedant.”
”But I _am_ a pedant.” Littlejohn nodded. ”And it's true. When the Naturalists were exterminated, this nation and other nations were literally destroyed. Worse than physical destruction was the threat of mental and moral collapse. But the Yardstick councils arose to take over. The concept of small government came into being and saved us. We began to rebuild on a sensible scale, with local, limited control. The little community arose--”
”Spare me the history lesson,” said Thurmon, dryly. ”We rebuilt, yes.
We survived. In a sense, perhaps, we even made certain advances. There is no longer any economic rivalry, no social distinctions, no external pressure. I think I can safely a.s.sume that the danger of future warfare is forever banished. The balance of power is no longer a factor. The balance of Nature has been partially restored. And only one problem remains to plague mankind.”
”What is that?”
”We face extinction,” Thurmon said.
”But that's not true,” Littlejohn interrupted. ”Look at history and--”
”Look at us.” Thurmon sighed. ”You needn't bother with history. The answer is written in our faces, in our own bodies. I've searched the past very little, compared to your scholars.h.i.+p, but enough to know that things were different in the old days. The Naturalists, whatever else they might have been, were strong men. They walked freely in the land, they lived l.u.s.tily and long.
”Do you know what our average life-expectancy is today, Littlejohn? A shade under forty years. And that only if one is fortunate enough to lead a sheltered existence, as we do. In the mines, in the fields, in the radioactive areas, they die before the age of thirty.”
Littlejohn leaned forward. ”Schuyler touches on just that point in his _Psychology of Time_,” he said, eagerly. ”He posits the relations.h.i.+p between size and duration. Time is relative, you know. Our lives, short as they may be in terms of comparative chronology, nevertheless have a subjective span equal to that of the Naturalists in their heyday.”
”Nonsense,” Thurman said, again. ”Did you think that is what concerns me--whether or not we feel that our lives are long or short?”
”What then?”
”I'm talking about the basic elements essential to survival. I'm talking about strength, stamina, endurance, the ability to function.
That's what we're losing, along with the normal span of years. The world is soft and flabby. Yardstick children, they tell us, were healthy at first. But _their_ children are weaker. And their grandchildren, weaker still. The effect of the wars, the ravages of radiation and malnutrition, have taken a terrible toll. The world is soft and flabby today. People can't walk any more, let alone run. We find it difficult to lift and bend and work--”
”But we won't have to worry about such matters for long,” Littlejohn hazarded. ”Think of what's being done in robotics. Those recent experiments seem to prove--”
”I know.” Thurmon nodded. ”We can create robots, no doubt. We have a limited amount of raw materials to allocate to the project, and if we can perfect automatons they'll function quite adequately. Virtually indestructible, too, I understand. I imagine they'll still be able to operate efficiently a hundred or more years from now--if only they learn to oil and repair one another. Because by that time, the human race will be gone.”
”Come now, it isn't that serious--”
”Oh, but it is!” Thurmon raised himself again, with an effort. ”Your study of history should have taught you one thing, if nothing else.
The tempo is quickening. While it took mankind thousands of years to move from the bow and arrow to the rifle, it took only a few hundred to move from the rifle to the thermonuclear weapon. It took ages before men mastered flight, and then in two generations they developed satellites; in three, they reached the moon and Mars.”
”But we're talking about _physical_ development.”
”I know. And physically, the human race altered just as drastically in an equally short span of time. As recently as the nineteenth century, the incidence of disease was a thousandfold greater than it is now.
Life was short then. In the twentieth century disease lessened and life-expectancy doubled, in certain areas. Height and weight increased perceptibly with every pa.s.sing decade. Then came Leffingwell and his injections. Height, weight, life-expectancy have fallen perceptibly every decade since then. The war merely hastened the process.”
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