Star Maker: Olaf Stapledon (S.F. MASTERWORKS)

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The disembodied travellers encounter many ideas that are interesting from both science-fictional and philosophical points of view. These include many imaginative descriptions of species, civilisations and methods of warfare, descriptions of the multiverse, and the idea that the stars and pre-galactic nebulae are intelligent beings, operating on vast time scales. A key idea is the formation of collective minds from many telepathically-linked individuals, on the level of planets, galaxies, and eventually the cosmos itself. To expand upon my galaxies as living beings idea (well, I did not originate such an idea but I do have ideas on the idea, and yes I now wish I had written a paper on this for the conference).

This may be the only novel I’ve read that essentially has no individual characters. A nameless narrator sits on a hill contemplating the stars; without warning his consciousness is transported into space, and he starts rushing towards the nearest stars. He discovers he can control his speed and direction, and proceeds to search for stars with intelligent life. Initially his search is fruitless, and the oppressive loneliness of space discourages him. Eventually he discovers other intelligent minds and joins a collective mind with them. We are then treated to an astonishing series of encounters with ever greater and stranger life forms as the scale expands by increasing series of magnitudes, until individual galaxies and universes have formed united spirits and then seek for the ultimate creator of the universes. To give you an idea of his writing style, below is a brief passage describing part of this process. The entire book is written like this, so it may not be your cup of tea if you like quirky characters, intricate plots, or pithy dialogue.Fourteenth to Seventeenth Men. The Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Men are essentially Neptunian versions of the First, Second and Fifth Men, respectively. The Fourteenth Men create great civilisations and destroy them, frustrated with their own imperfections. The Fifteenth improve upon that, creating a spirituality based on "a devotion to the fulfilment of human capacity". They eventually create the Sixteenth Men - the first Neptunian artificial species. Thus the cycle of rise and collapse of civilisations ends, and steady progress takes its place. The Sixteenth Men achieve the highest level of civilisation possible "to the individual human brain acting in physical isolation" and to avoid stagnation create the Seventeenth Men, with an ability for "mental fusion of many individuals" to succeed them; however, the Seventeenth Men are "flawed" in some unspecified way, unimagined by the 16th due to their lesser awareness, and last only a short period of time before being replaced by the Eighteenth Men. Eighteenth Men. (Chapters 15–16) The most advanced humans of all, essentially a perfected version of the 17th species. A race of philosophers and artists with a very liberal sexual morality. "Superficially we seem to be not one species but many." (One interesting aspect of the Eighteenth Men is that they have a number of different "sub-genders," variants on the basic male and female pattern, with distinctive temperaments. The Eighteenth Men's equivalent of the family unit includes one of each of these sub-genders and is the basis of their society. The units have the ability to act as a group mind, which eventually leads to the establishment of a single group mind uniting the entire species.) This species no longer died naturally, but only by accident, suicide or being killed. Despite their hyper-advanced civilisation, they practice ritual cannibalism. [2] They are eventually extinguished on Neptune after a supernova infects the sun, causing it to grow so hot that it consumes the remains of the Solar System, faster than any means of escape they can devise. Unable to escape, this last species of man devises a virus to spread life to other worlds and cause the evolution of new sentient species throughout the galaxy. And the influence on later sf is obvious. Childhood's End, Dune and Hothouse spring to mind. I would imagine those chapters that didn't remind me of anything have simply inspired books I haven't read yet. During the summer the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) played host to a symposium on World Ships, possibly the first such dedicated conference ever on these grand, long-term planning concepts. However, the most recent BIS symposium is on a topic that covers eons. There was no one who thought bigger and over longer timescales than the philosopher and writer Olaf Stapledon. Once again, the BIS has organized another first in history. On the 23rd of November members and visitors gathered to discuss the philosophy and literature of Stapledon in the context of today’s current space exploration activities. The session was organized for the purpose of facilitating wider exposure to his ideas and as a way to invite those who may never have heard of him to discover a gem in the literature of space exploration and science fiction. I am not a Marxist, but I have learned much from Marxists, and I am not anti-Marxist... Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience, but each in its way misinterprets, falsifies." quoted in Geoghegan, Vincent, Socialism and Religion: Roads to Common Wealth.

The take-home, I suppose, for me, is the juxtaposition of hope and futility, on a scale so as to hurt the mind (the eternal struggle) and the fact that (even now) we know so little and think we know so much. After a while, the book becomes more fantasy than anything as we get farther away from the world we recognize. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it is a weird jump as the book starts being rather factual, or wanting to present itself as such. STUART STAROSTA, on our staff from March 2015 to November 2018, is a lifelong SFF reader who makes his living reviewing English translations of Japanese equity research. Despite growing up in beautiful Hawaii, he spent most of his time reading as many SFF books as possible. After getting an MA in Japanese-English translation in Monterey, CA, he lived in Tokyo, Japan for about 15 years before moving to London in 2017 with his wife, daughter, and dog named Lani. Stuart's reading goal is to read as many classic SF novels and Hugo/Nebula winners as possible, David Pringle's 100 Best SF and 100 Best Fantasy Novels, along with newer books & series that are too highly-praised to be ignored. Image: Ian Crawford discussing the possibilities in Stapledon’s fictional futures. Credit: Kelvin Long.Last and First Men is a history of the future. This is a really interesting topic for a book. I am someone who loves futurism and and how people of the past viewed the future. Unfortunately I enjoyed this book more so in concept than in execution. I have often wondered if galaxies themselves are living beings of a kind way beyond our current experience and scale. Or if I am just anthropomorphizing here? I’ve seen this idea used in many subsequent works of SF, but this may be the earliest reference to the idea I’ve encountered. What impressed me at this moment about this passage was that I have within the past week heard the idea presented not as SF but as a serious scientific concept. Finally, I draw attention to some recent developments in international space policy which, although probably not influenced by Stapledon’s work, are nevertheless congruent with his overarching philosophy as outlined in ‘Interplanetary Man?’ Andrea Bosco, Federal Union and the origins of the 'Churchill proposal': the federalist debate in the United Kingdom from Munich to the fall of France, 1938-1940 London: Lothian Foundation Press, 1992. ISBN 1872210198 (p. 50)

Eventually he discovers other intelligent minds, and joins in a collective mind with them. We are then treated to a mind-blowing series of encounters with ever greater and stranger life forms, as the scale expands by increasing series of magnitudes, until individual galaxies and universes have formed united spirits and proceed to seek the ultimate creator of the universe. To give you an idea of his writing style, below is a brief passage. The entire book is written like this, so it may not be your cup of tea if you like quirky characters, intricate plots, or pithy dialogue. Stapledon is considered one of the forerunners of the contemporary transhumanist movement. [31] Film rights [ edit ] Stapledon's work also refers to then-contemporary intellectual fashions (e.g. the belief in extrasensory perception). Liel Leibovitz (November 2011). "Star Men". Archived from the original on 4 September 2018 . Retrieved 4 September 2018. A major component of Stapledon’s project in Star Maker, then, is to imagine a path beyond this crisis. He writes, “In a few worlds the spirit reacted to its desperate plight with a miracle.… There occurred a widespread and almost sudden waking into a new lucidity of consciousness and a new integrity of will.” It’s a kind of enlightenment that evokes Buddhism—or maybe The Celestine Prophecy—as an entire civilization ascends to a new plane of existence. Stapledon doesn’t offer a road map but an uncanny and allusive vision, like a dream you try to hold on to after you wake up.

CHAPTER II - INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL

that which human travelers in the desert feel under the stars. CHAPTER XIII - THE BEGINNING AND THE END If anyone knows what story I am referring to and can send me a copy, I would greatly appreciate it, thank you. And thanks for bothering with my cosmic ramblings. Ninth Men. (Chapter 14) "Inevitably it was a dwarf type, limited in size by the necessity of resisting an excessive gravitation... too delicately organized to withstand the ferocity of natural forces on Neptune... civilization crumbled into savagery." After the Ninth Men's civilization collapses, the Ninth Men themselves devolve into various animal species.