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.“I think they’re a lot of cranks.”“Well, there’s only one way to find out.I intend to go and see them in the next fortnight.I must say that the literature they put out looks perfectly sane.And they’ve got some very good men there.”“If you expect me to start cooking over a wood fire, or learning to dress in skins, you’ll have—”“Oh, don’t be silly! Those stories are just nonsense.The colony’s got everything that’s really needed for civilized life.They don’t believe in unnecessary frills, that’s all.Anyway, it’s a couple of years since I visited the Pacific, it will make a trip for us both.”“I agree with you there,” said Jean.“But I don’t intend Junior and the Poppet to grow up into a couple of Polynesian savages.”“They won’t,” said George.“I can promise you that.”He was right, though not in the way he had intended.“As you noticed when you flew in,” said the little man on the other side of the veranda, “the colony consists of two islands, linked by a causeway.This is Athens, the other we’ve christened Sparta.It’s rather wild and rocky, and is a wonderful place for sport or exercise.” His eye flickered momentarily over his visitor’s waistline, and George squirmed slightly in the cane chair.“Sparta is an extinct volcano, by the way.At least the geologists say it’s extinct, ha-ha!“But back to Athens.The idea of the colony, as you’ve gathered, is to build up an independent, stable cultural group with its own artistic traditions.I should point out that a vast amount of research took place before we started this enterprise.It’s really a piece of applied social engineering, based on some exceedingly complex mathematics which I wouldn’t pretend to understand.All I know is that the mathematical sociologists have computed how large the colony should be, how many types of people it should contain—and, above all, what constitution it should have for long-term stability.“We’re ruled by a Council of eight directors, representing Production, Power, Social Engineering, Art, Economics, Science, Sport, and Philosophy.There’s no permanent chairman or president.The chair’s held by each of the directors in rotation for a year at a time.“Our present population is just over fifty thousand, which is a little short of the desired optimum.That’s why we keep our eyes open for recruits.And, of course, there is a certain wastage; we’re not yet quite self-supporting in some of the more specialized talents.“Here on this island we’re trying to save something of humanity’s independence, its artistic traditions.We’ve no hostility towards the Overlords; we simply want to be left alone to go our own way.When they destroyed the old nations and the way of life man had known since the beginning of history, they swept away many good things with the bad.The world’s now placid, featureless and culturally dead; nothing really new has been created since the Overlords came.The reason’s obvious.There’s nothing left to struggle for, and there are too many distractions and entertainments.Do you realize that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over the various channels? If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that’s available at the turn of a switch! No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges-absorbing but never creating.Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day?“Soon people won’t be living their own lives any more.It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!“Here, in Athens, entertainment takes its proper place.Moreover, it’s live, not canned.In a community this size it is possible to have almost complete audience participation, with all that that means to the performers and artists.Incidentally we’ve got a very fine symphony orchestra—probably among the world’s half-dozen best.“But I don’t want you to take my word for all this.What usually happens is that prospective citizens stay here a few days, getting the feel of the place.If they decide they’d like to join us, then we let them take the battery of psychological tests which are really our main line of defence.About a third of the applicants are rejected, usually for reasons which don’t reflect on them and which wouldn’t matter outside.Those who pass go home long enough to settle their affairs, and then rejoin us.Sometimes, they change their minds at this stage, but that’s very unusual and almost invariably through personal reasons outside their control.Our tests are practically a hundred-per-cent reliable now; the people they pass are the people who really want to come.”“Suppose anyone changed their mind later?” asked Jean anxiously.“Then they could leave.There’d be no difficulty.It’s happened once or twice.”There was a long silence [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“I think they’re a lot of cranks.”“Well, there’s only one way to find out.I intend to go and see them in the next fortnight.I must say that the literature they put out looks perfectly sane.And they’ve got some very good men there.”“If you expect me to start cooking over a wood fire, or learning to dress in skins, you’ll have—”“Oh, don’t be silly! Those stories are just nonsense.The colony’s got everything that’s really needed for civilized life.They don’t believe in unnecessary frills, that’s all.Anyway, it’s a couple of years since I visited the Pacific, it will make a trip for us both.”“I agree with you there,” said Jean.“But I don’t intend Junior and the Poppet to grow up into a couple of Polynesian savages.”“They won’t,” said George.“I can promise you that.”He was right, though not in the way he had intended.“As you noticed when you flew in,” said the little man on the other side of the veranda, “the colony consists of two islands, linked by a causeway.This is Athens, the other we’ve christened Sparta.It’s rather wild and rocky, and is a wonderful place for sport or exercise.” His eye flickered momentarily over his visitor’s waistline, and George squirmed slightly in the cane chair.“Sparta is an extinct volcano, by the way.At least the geologists say it’s extinct, ha-ha!“But back to Athens.The idea of the colony, as you’ve gathered, is to build up an independent, stable cultural group with its own artistic traditions.I should point out that a vast amount of research took place before we started this enterprise.It’s really a piece of applied social engineering, based on some exceedingly complex mathematics which I wouldn’t pretend to understand.All I know is that the mathematical sociologists have computed how large the colony should be, how many types of people it should contain—and, above all, what constitution it should have for long-term stability.“We’re ruled by a Council of eight directors, representing Production, Power, Social Engineering, Art, Economics, Science, Sport, and Philosophy.There’s no permanent chairman or president.The chair’s held by each of the directors in rotation for a year at a time.“Our present population is just over fifty thousand, which is a little short of the desired optimum.That’s why we keep our eyes open for recruits.And, of course, there is a certain wastage; we’re not yet quite self-supporting in some of the more specialized talents.“Here on this island we’re trying to save something of humanity’s independence, its artistic traditions.We’ve no hostility towards the Overlords; we simply want to be left alone to go our own way.When they destroyed the old nations and the way of life man had known since the beginning of history, they swept away many good things with the bad.The world’s now placid, featureless and culturally dead; nothing really new has been created since the Overlords came.The reason’s obvious.There’s nothing left to struggle for, and there are too many distractions and entertainments.Do you realize that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over the various channels? If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that’s available at the turn of a switch! No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges-absorbing but never creating.Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day?“Soon people won’t be living their own lives any more.It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!“Here, in Athens, entertainment takes its proper place.Moreover, it’s live, not canned.In a community this size it is possible to have almost complete audience participation, with all that that means to the performers and artists.Incidentally we’ve got a very fine symphony orchestra—probably among the world’s half-dozen best.“But I don’t want you to take my word for all this.What usually happens is that prospective citizens stay here a few days, getting the feel of the place.If they decide they’d like to join us, then we let them take the battery of psychological tests which are really our main line of defence.About a third of the applicants are rejected, usually for reasons which don’t reflect on them and which wouldn’t matter outside.Those who pass go home long enough to settle their affairs, and then rejoin us.Sometimes, they change their minds at this stage, but that’s very unusual and almost invariably through personal reasons outside their control.Our tests are practically a hundred-per-cent reliable now; the people they pass are the people who really want to come.”“Suppose anyone changed their mind later?” asked Jean anxiously.“Then they could leave.There’d be no difficulty.It’s happened once or twice.”There was a long silence [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]