Chapter 6The Sunset of Mankind

"It was a weird thing I quickly noticed about my little hosts - they just weren't that interested. They’d come to me with excited shouts of surprise, like kids, but, like kids, they’d quickly lose interest and wander off after something else."

After dinner and my attempts at conversation, I realized almost everyone who’d surrounded me earlier was gone. It’s also kind of crazy how fast I started to ignore these little people. I headed back outside through the doorway into the sunny world as soon as I was full.

"I kept running into more of these people from the future, who would follow me a bit, chat and laugh about me, and then, after a friendly smile and some gestures, just leave me to my own devices. "The evening was calm, and the setting sun gave everything a warm glow as I walked out of the big hall.

At first, things were super confusing. Everything was so different from the world I knew - even the flowers. The big building I’d left was on the side of a wide river valley, but the Thames had probably shifted about a mile from where it is now.

I decided to climb to the top of a ridge, maybe a mile and a half away, so I could get a better look at our planet in the year eight hundred and two thousand, seven hundred and one, A.D. That’s what the little dials on my machine showed, by the way.

"As I walked, I was looking for anything that could explain the state of impressive but ruined buildings I found - it was definitely ruined."

A little way up the hill, for example, was a huge pile of granite held together with aluminum, a massive maze of steep walls and crumpled heaps, with thick patches of really beautiful, pagoda-like plants - probably nettles - but with wonderfully brown-tinted leaves and totally harmless.

It was clearly the remains of some huge building, but I couldn’t figure out what it had been used for. This is where I was destined to have a really strange experience - the first clue to an even stranger discovery - but I’m going to talk about that later.

"Looking around, I suddenly realized, while resting on a terrace for a bit, that there weren’t any small houses anywhere. Apparently, the single house, and maybe even the household, had disappeared."

Here and there among the greenery were palace-like buildings, but the house and cottage, which are such a typical part of our own English countryside, were gone. "‘Communism,’ I said to myself. "And then another thought popped into my head. I looked at the half-dozen little figures following me.

Then, in a flash, I realized they were all wearing the same clothes, had the same soft, hairless faces, and the same round limbs. It might seem strange that I hadn’t noticed this before, but everything was so weird. Now, I could see it clearly.

In clothes and in all the differences in texture and appearance that now separate the sexes, these people from the future were all the same. And the kids seemed to be just miniature versions of their parents.

I guessed then that the kids of that time were really advanced, physically anyway, and I later found plenty of proof that I was right.

Seeing how chill and secure these people were living, I figured this whole thing with the genders being so similar made sense. Like, the strength of a man and the softness of a woman, families, and different jobs - it’s all just stuff you need when you’re constantly dealing with violence.

But when everyone’s got plenty and there’s no real danger, having tons of kids becomes a burden, not a benefit, for society. When everyone’s safe and kids are protected, you don’t need strong families or specialized roles for men and women.

"We’re already seeing hints of this in our time, and in this future, it was totally complete. I thought that's how it was, anyway. Later, I realized how wrong I was. While I was thinking about all this, I noticed a cute little building, like a well under a dome. I briefly thought, "Wells still exist?

That’s weird, " then went back to my thoughts . There weren't any huge buildings at the top of the hill, and since I could apparently walk forever, I was finally alone for the first time. With a weird feeling of freedom and excitement, I kept going up to the top."

There, I found a seat made of some metal I didn't recognize, corroded in places with a pinkish rust and covered in soft moss, with armrests shaped like griffin heads. I sat down and looked out at the view of our old world under the sunset of that long day.

It was seriously the prettiest view I'd ever seen. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, and the sky was a mix of fiery gold, purple, and crimson. Below was the Thames Valley, and the river looked like a band of polished steel.

I'd already talked about the big palaces scattered around the green landscape, some in ruins and some still lived in. Here and there, a white or silvery structure popped up from the overgrown earth, and you’d see the sharp lines of a dome or obelisk.

No fences, no signs of ownership, no farms - the whole world had become a garden. As I watched, I started to piece together what I’d seen, and what I figured out that evening was this: It turned out I was only partially right - just a glimpse of the whole truth.

It seemed like I’d stumbled upon humanity at its end. The sunset made me think about the sunset of humankind. For the first time, I realized a weird consequence of what we're working towards right now. But, thinking about it, it's actually pretty logical.

Strength comes from needing it; safety makes weakness valuable. The work of making life better and more secure - the real process of civilization - had gone on and on, reaching a peak. One victory of humanity over nature followed another.

Things we only dream of now were becoming projects we planned and completed. And the result was what I was seeing!

"Honestly, the sanitation and farming we do today are still pretty basic. Science has only tackled a few areas of disease, but it’s still making steady progress. We get rid of weeds here and there, and grow maybe a handful of healthy plants, leaving most of them to fend for themselves."

We improve our favorite plants and animals - and there aren’t that many - slowly through selective breeding; like a new, better peach, a seedless grape, a sweeter, bigger flower, or a more useful breed of cattle.

We improve them gradually because our ideas are vague and changing, and we donn't know a whole lot; because nature is also hesitant and slow in our clumsy hands. Someday all this will be way better, and even better after that.

That’s the general direction things are heading, even with the bumps along the way. The whole world will be smart, educated, and working together; things will move faster and faster towards controlling nature.

Eventually, carefully and wisely, we’ll adjust the balance of animal and plant life to fit our needs. "This adjustment, I’m saying, had to have been done, and done well; done perfectly for all time, across the huge stretch of time my machine jumped through."

The air was clear of gnats, the earth free of weeds or fungus; everywhere were fruits and amazing, delicious flowers; bright butterflies flew around. The idea of preventing sickness was a total success. Diseases were wiped out. I didn’t see any sign of contagious diseases during my whole visit.

And I’ll have to tell you later that even decay and rot had been deeply changed by these shifts. "Society had also made huge leaps forward. I saw people living in amazing homes, dressed incredibly well, and as far as I could tell, doing no work at all."

There were no signs of struggle, either social or financial. Shops, ads, traffic - all that stuff that makes up our world - was gone. It felt natural on that beautiful evening to think I’d found a social paradise.

I guessed the problem of overpopulation had been solved, and population had stopped growing. "But with these changes come adjustments. What, unless biology is completely wrong, causes human intelligence and strength?"

Hardship and freedom: situations where the strong, active, and clever survive and the weak don’t; situations that reward loyal teamwork among capable people, self-control, patience, and making decisions.

And the family, and the feelings that come from it - fierce jealousy, love for kids, parental devotion - all made sense and were supported by the dangers facing the young. Now, where are those dangers?

There’s a growing feeling, and it will get stronger, against jealousy in relationships, fierce motherhood, and all kinds of passion; things that are unnecessary now, and that make us uncomfortable, savage leftovers, clashes in a refined and pleasant life.

"I thought about how small the people were, how little intelligence they had, and those huge, impressive ruins, and it made me even more sure that nature had been totally conquered. Because after the battle comes peace."

"Humanity had been strong, energetic, and intelligent, and had used all its energy to change the conditions they lived in. And now came the effect of those changed conditions."

"With everything so comfy and safe, that restless energy - what we’d call strength - would just turn into weakness. Even now, some things we want or do, once needed to survive, just mess us up. Like, physical bravery and loving to fight?"

Not exactly helpful - might even get in the way - for someone who’s living a good life. And when everyone’s physically stable and secure, having power - whether it's muscle or brains - just feels weird.

For ages, I figured there was no war, no random violence, no scary animals, no diseases to worry about, no need to work hard. In that kind of life, people we’d call weak are just as good as the strong, actually, they’re better equipped.

Because the strong would be bouncing off the walls with energy they couldn’t use. I’m pretty sure the amazing beauty of those buildings was just a last burst of energy from people before everything settled down into perfect peace - like a final flourish celebrating that big, awesome era of calm.

"That’s always what happens to energy when things are safe; it goes into art and romance, and then everyone just gets lazy and things fall apart. "Even that artistic spark would eventually die out - it was almost gone when I was there.

Decorating themselves with flowers, dancing, singing in the sunshine: that's all that was left of their creativity, and not much more. Even that would fade into just being totally chill and inactive.

We stay sharp because life’s a constant struggle, and it looked to me like that grindstone of pain and hardship had finally been smashed! "Standing there in the growing darkness, I thought I finally understood everything - figured out the whole puzzle of these amazing people, cracked the secret."

"Maybe their birth control methods had worked too well, and their population had shrunk instead of staying steady. That would explain all the abandoned ruins. My explanation was pretty simple, and sounded believable - like most wrong ideas do!"