Last and First Men

Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a science fiction novel by British author Olaf Stapledon, belonging to the "future history" subgenre. Methuen first published it on 23 October 1930. The book covers the history of humanity from the present day across two billion years, featuring eighteen distinct human species, of which modern humans are the first. The story is framed as a channelled text: the novelist, under subtle inspiration, unknowingly transcribes a message from the last human species.

Stapledon's history follows a repetitive cycle, with diverse civilizations rising from and falling back into savagery over millions of years, later civilizations reaching far greater heights than the first. The novel anticipates genetic engineering and is an early example of a fictional supermind—a consciousness formed by many telepathically linked individuals.

In the 21st century, a series of devastating European wars leaves the United States and China as the only remaining superpowers. A subsequent Sino-American war leads to the creation of the first World State. By the 26th century, individual religions have died out, and human religions together with secular science consolidate into worship of the Aristotelian Prime Mover (Latin: *primum movens*). A few thousand years later, the depletion of Earth's fossil fuel supply causes a civilizational collapse.

Stapledon followed this novel in 1932 with the less acclaimed *Last Men in London*. His later work *Star Maker* (1937) can be considered a sequel, mentioning human evolution on Neptune; though shorter, it is even more ambitious, describing a history of the entire universe.

The First Men are modern humans. Beginning in the early 21st century, increasingly destructive European wars leave the US and China as dominant powers. In the 24th century, they go to war, resulting in the First World State. In the 26th century, all religions and secular science merge into a religion worshipping motion, whose god is Gordelpus, the Prime Mover. Four millennia after the World State's formation, humans exhaust Earth's fossil fuels, causing civilization's total collapse. 100,000 years later, a new civilization emerges in Patagonia, featuring a cult of youth.