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Astronaut, v. 1, issue 1, September 1947

Page 16

16
ASTRONAUT

With the atom bomb's 2,000,000 horsepower per pound Uranium, distributable by jet rockets at 5000 miles per hour, mankind appears doomed to self-destruction, unless brain fission keeps pace with atomic fission. Our immense danger lies in the hundreds of millions of unthinking workers, 9/10ths of whose brain-power is kept paralyzed by overlong hours of dull, plodding mechanical drudgery, and whose labor-power can be marshalled and driven by equally unintelligent, unscrupulous leaders, politicians, and "statesmen" at any time into fratracidral and suicidal war. Our only defense and salvation right now is the Social Cyclotron, shown in a former issue of F. I., built out of 20 million parts (5 million personal, 5 million social, and 10 million data out of raw Nature); its marvels and miracles so far brought only blank stares and catcalls from the nitwits, yet its use alone can speed our thoughts into practical social consciousness. Its main feature is the sinus curve of optimum human functions. Human thought functions best only at highest speeds of the whole organism, and this can be regularly produced only when human work is conducted strictly along the gradual ascents and descents of the curve, with the necessary pauses punctually observed, in the rythumus of 2, 3 and 3 workhours, with an absolute 8, or still better, 7 hour limit (2-5-2). Neither the sloth of our leisure classes nor the monotonous mechanical speedup of our industries can produce this result. The race is on between chain-reactions in the public brain and those in the elements around us. Which will win -- Dominion or Destruction? WILLIAM VAN OPPEN, 1428 W. McKinley Ave., Milwaukee 7, Wis.

WHAT'S L. S. DE C. BEEN DOING?

Dear Mr. Stein: Thanks for your note of the 3rd. The reason for my non-appearance is that since I went on inactive duty from the Naval Reserve a year ago, I've been fully occupied with a big book on magic, witchcraft, and occultism in Western civilization (provisional title, Round About the Cauldron) which is now mostly done and which will be published by Holt sometime next year ((1947. EDS)). When it's finished, I expect to do some fiction again. I have had a few small things published, including a story in a recent Wonder, and an article on lost continents in last May's Natural History, which was written up in Time, and reprinted in a couple places. L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP, 135 Lansdowne Court, Lansdowne, Pa.

BRITISH STF "SAME OLD STUFF"

Dear Stein: New Worlds will never set the world on fire at this rate. I agree with your suspicions that the thing is probably a collection of rejections slapped together.

And that's too bad, because if British sf must stand or fall by this sort of representation, I predict it will fall. I had hoped perhaps that a new stylistic trend might be found in the yarns, but it's the same old stuff, only watered down. And each story seems to be set in the old familiar pattern...a "mystery"

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16 ASTRONAUT With the atom bomb's 2,000,000 horsepower per pound Uranium, distributable by jet rockets at 5000 miles per hour, mankind appears doomed to self-destruction, unless brain fission keeps pace with atomic fission. Our immense danger lies in the hundreds of millions of unthinking workers, 9/10ths of whose brain-power is kept paralyzed by overlong hours of dull, plodding mechanical drudgery, and whose labor-power can be marshalled and driven by equally unintelligent, unscrupulous leaders, politicians, and "statesmen" at any time into fratracidral and suicidal war. Our only defense and salvation right now is the Social Cyclotron, shown in a former issue of F. I., built out of 20 million parts (5 million personal, 5 million social, and 10 million data out of raw Nature); its marvels and miracles so far brought only blank stares and catcalls from the nitwits, yet its use alone can speed our thoughts into practical social consciousness. Its main feature is the sinus curve of optimum human functions. Human thought functions best only at highest speeds of the whole organism, and this can be regularly produced only when human work is conducted strictly along the gradual ascents and descents of the curve, with the necessary pauses punctually observed, in the rythumus of 2, 3 and 3 workhours, with an absolute 8, or still better, 7 hour limit (2-5-2). Neither the sloth of our leisure classes nor the monotonous mechanical speedup of our industries can produce this result. The race is on between chain-reactions in the public brain and those in the elements around us. Which will win -- Dominion or Destruction? WILLIAM VAN OPPEN, 1428 W. McKinley Ave., Milwaukee 7, Wis. WHAT'S L. S. DE C. BEEN DOING? Dear Mr. Stein: Thanks for your note of the 3rd. The reason for my non-appearance is that since I went on inactive duty from the Naval Reserve a year ago, I've been fully occupied with a big book on magic, witchcraft, and occultism in Western civilization (provisional title, Round About the Cauldron) which is now mostly done and which will be published by Holt sometime next year ((1947. EDS)). When it's finished, I expect to do some fiction again. I have had a few small things published, including a story in a recent Wonder, and an article on lost continents in last May's Natural History, which was written up in Time, and reprinted in a couple places. L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP, 135 Lansdowne Court, Lansdowne, Pa. BRITISH STF "SAME OLD STUFF" Dear Stein: New Worlds will never set the world on fire at this rate. I agree with your suspicions that the thing is probably a collection of rejections slapped together. And that's too bad, because if British sf must stand or fall by this sort of representation, I predict it will fall. I had hoped perhaps that a new stylistic trend might be found in the yarns, but it's the same old stuff, only watered down. And each story seems to be set in the old familiar pattern...a "mystery"