In Anderson's "The Chapter Ends," human beings mentally control their own instincts and also cosmic forces.
In his "Starfog," human civilizations have achieved stability with freedom and no longer wage wars.
Starfarers points towards a multi-species, interstellar civilization unified by inter-temporal communication - like James Blish's "Beep"/The Quincunx Of Time.
The Harvest of Stars Tetralogy has two outcomes:
cosmos-surviving post-organic intelligences;
perpetual re-embodiment of recorded human personalities on newly terraformed extra-solar planets.
At the beginning of the Time Patrol series, we think that the only purpose of the Patrol is the mere survival of the Danellians but, at the end of the series, we learn of two profounder purposes:
maintenance of cosmic order without which there could be neither consciousness nor freedom;
preservation of a history that leads the descendants of humanity beyond their animality.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I have to disagree with your comments about "Starfog," because I believe the POTENTIALITY for wars breaking out remains with the member worlds of the Commonalty. What we see in that story was a glimpse of the Commonalty at a prosperous and peaceful point in its history. We have no guarantee of that lasting permanently. Either internal problems become so severe that strife breaks out or the Commonalty might bump up against an aggressive human or non human power.
Sean
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