In a future where humanity has grown soft, only their self-evolving machine descendants stand between Earth and an unstoppable alien force. As the last humans watch the end of their own era, a new kind of intelligence rises to decide the fate of everything that lives—or once lived. The Last Evolution by John W. Campbell. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.
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John W. Campbell would become one of the most influential men in early science fiction as the editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. In fact Isaac Asimov said he was, "the most powerful force in science fiction ever”.
Campbell encouraged author Cleve Cartmill to write a story—and collaborated closely with him—that laid out the fundamental principles behind building an atomic bomb, nearly a year before the first nuclear test. When the story appeared in print, the accuracy of its scientific details alarmed authorities enough that the FBI showed up at Campbell’s office, demanding that the issue be pulled from newsstands. Campbell argued that suppressing the magazine would draw far more attention to the existence of a secret government project than simply leaving it alone. His reasoning prevailed, and the issue remained in circulation.
If you’ve ever wondered what Artificial Intelligence could mean for humanity’s future you might want to pay close attention to today’s story. First published on page 414 in Amazing Stories in August 1932, The Last Evolution by John W. Campbell…
Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A hard-nosed troubleshooter arrives on the Moon to investigate vanished rocketships, only to stumble onto a secret no human was ever meant to find. Amid lunar dust and deceptive calm, he uncovers a stranger living alone… and a truth that rewrites everything. The Homesteader by James Blish.
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