Shit’s crazy lately. The stupidity leads to weirdness. Weirdness leads to instability. Standing around wondering how completely fucked we’re going to be before stability returns… if it ever will… is making us all tense.
It’s the weekend. I invite y’all to let off a little pressure. Let’s all sit back and enjoy some sci-fi reading from back before sci-fi was colonized by whiny woke asshats.
First, a 1951 short story by Arthur C. Clarke. Click the link to see it reproduced in its entirety (I assume it’s not a copywrite infringement). I present to you Superiority:
“The ultimate cause of our failure was a simple one: despite all statements to the contrary, it was not due to lack of bravery on the part of our men, or to any fault of the Fleet’s. We were defeated by one thing only – by the inferior science of our enemies. I repeat – by the inferior science of our enemies.”
Second, another 1951 short story by C. M. Kornbluth. This is one of my absolute favorites. (It’s reproduced in its entirety by Project Gutenberg.) I present to you The Marching Morons:
“The attrition of accidents, illness, wars and such took care of that. Your intelligence was bred out. It is gone. Children that should have been born never were. The just-average, they’ll-get-along majority took over the population. The average IQ now is 45.”
Every word is linked for free just above this line. (You can’t stop the signal Mal!)
If you want to buy a copy I sure as hell won’t stop you. Please use the links below. Since they originate on my page. I’ll get a tuppence from the Bezo-collective no matter what you buy. (Amazon requires an “I get money from this” disclaimer in case there’s still a living human in 2021 hasn’t figured out how sponsored links work. If that 90 year old cloistered monk still exists, I want to meet him. I assume he’s busy cutting checks to mail order stuff from late night TV ads repeated off VHS tapes.)
You’ll find Superiority nestled in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.*
You can also buy The Marching Morons.*
Also, anyone who loves The Marching Morons will love the excellent documentary Idiocracy. (Seriously, if you haven’t seen Idiocracy, do it now. Its got what plants crave!)
Happy reading.
A.C.
*Note: I bought my version’s of those texts under different titles. That’s the thing with old sci-fi from periodicals, they’re available in various anthologies. If the products at one of these links is low quality, please tell me asap.