Last month, after checking out Bates' original "Farewell to the Master" upon which "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is based, I went on to read the other stories in the collection, namely "Alas, All Thinking," and "A Matter of Size." The latter is a fun story, kinda A.E. Van Vogt-y, and one I would have enjoyed far more had I been twelve again.
However, the "Alas, All Thinking" story was very disturbing. Perhaps it was intended to be provocative, and if so, it sure succeeded! But in short shrift, a scientist traveling to the future finds a race of advanced, cerebral beings, supposedly the final outcome of the future of human evolution, and is so disgusted by them that he murders them all (there being but a half-dozen or so left). Also, it is a "love story" that is pure anti-matter to our Valentines Day shortly coming up. I suppose the effort was to evoke horror, but I wound up with a moral like: "How terrible it would be in the future if we lost our uncontrollable blood-lust and could no longer kill?" Maybe I missed the point. Anybody know?
However, the "Alas, All Thinking" story was very disturbing. Perhaps it was intended to be provocative, and if so, it sure succeeded! But in short shrift, a scientist traveling to the future finds a race of advanced, cerebral beings, supposedly the final outcome of the future of human evolution, and is so disgusted by them that he murders them all (there being but a half-dozen or so left). Also, it is a "love story" that is pure anti-matter to our Valentines Day shortly coming up. I suppose the effort was to evoke horror, but I wound up with a moral like: "How terrible it would be in the future if we lost our uncontrollable blood-lust and could no longer kill?" Maybe I missed the point. Anybody know?
