A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

Egypt. And the Jews, only just back in Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile, are also subjects of
the Persian monarch.
As to the lands of northern Europe, these are now dominated by a mysterious warrior-race called
the Celts - a race quite as remarkable in their way as the Greeks and Romans. They are artists,
mystics and nature worshippers; they believe that woodlands are full of tiny nature spirits called
fairies. Unlike the Romans, these mighty warriors are dreamers, with a strong tinge of pessimism.
They are now masters of Germany, France and England. The one civilised art they have not yet
acquired is writing, and this explains why we now know so little about them.
This, then, is the world as seen from a space ship in the year 500 B.C., and the visiting scientists
would find it an exciting and intriguing place. We can imagine them compiling a report which runs
something like this:
For reasons not yet determined, the upright creatures on this planet have
entered a sudden phase of accelerated evolution. We can state this with
authority since the simpler and less evolved type still exists in large
numbers, and their mode of existence is primitive. Yet we have also
observed among them thinkers and philosophers who have achieved an
astonishingly high level of abstract thought. This is all the more
remarkable since their technical achievements are unimpressive, except
in mere size, and their scientific insight is almost non-existent.
We theorise that their evolution has been accelerated by acute survival
problems, and that it has proceeded in two directions at once: aggression
and intellectual insight. The aggressiveness means that their more highly
civilised types are almost permanently involved in warfare. Yet their
finest thinkers show a truly remarkable degree of insight and selfknowledge.
It seems to us an interesting question which of the two will
cancel out the other.
Our neuro-physiologist believes he knows why they are so aggressive.
All brains on this planet are bi-compartmented, to permit the creature to
monitor and regulate its conduct through self-criticism. Survival
problems have apparently driven the human creature to go farther than
this, and to devote one half of its brain to scanning the material world for
dangers. The absurd result is that when they have achieved conditions of
peace, in which they can afford to relax, they are unable to switch off
this danger-scanning device, and can only release the tensions thus
created by going out and looking for challenge - i.e. war.
The problem is increased by a robotic learning device, through which
these creatures can store a remarkable amount of information derived
from past experience. Unfortunately, this has become so efficient in the
case of their ‘civilised’ beings that they are at the mercy of their
mechanical reactions, and their intuitive awareness of this makes them
inclined to regard themselves as machines. As we see it, this low level of
self-esteem, combined with an obsessive need to seek excitement in
order to feel fully alive, constitutes the greatest danger faced by this
interesting species.