Voyage from Yesteryear
Encyclopedia
Voyage from Yesteryear is a 1982 science fiction
novel
by the author James P. Hogan
. It explores themes of anarchism
and the appropriateness of certain social values in the context of high-technology.
The inspiration for the novel was the contention that the ongoing
conflict in Northern Ireland
had no immediate practical solution, and could only be solved if the children of one generation were somehow separated from their parents, and hence did not learn any of their prejudices.
The novel was awarded the 1983 Prometheus Award
for libertarian science fiction
.
is about to be sent from Earth to find habitable exoplanets. When it appears that an apocalyptic conflict is approaching, the probe's mission is changed from one of exploration to one of extrasolar space colonization
, in the hope of preserving human civilization
. As the technology does not yet exist to successfully convert the probe into a generation
or sleeper ship
, it is instead modified for embryo space colonization
.
The probe's data banks are programmed with the DNA
sequences of several hundred humans, and as much of humanity's knowledge as possible. It is equipped with Artificial wombs capable of using this data to gestate human babies. Finally, it is crewed with robots programmed not only to maintain the ship, but also raise the babies to adulthood. To signify its new purpose, the probe is dubbed the Kuan-Yin, the bodhisattva
of childbirth
.
Soon after the probe is launched, a major global war breaks out, but it is not as devastating as anticipated. It only takes several decades for the survivors to rebuild civilization, but as a repressive, authoritarian shadow of its former self. This is the civilization that receives a message from Alpha Centauri
, signaling the success of the Kuan-Yins mission. An Earth-like planet has been found in the system, and the Kuan-Yin has successfully raised its first generation of human children. They have dubbed the planet Chiron, after the mythological centaur
.
On Earth, the old international hostilities which led to war are still evident, and so the three major power blocs — North America, Asia, and Europe — each send a generation ship
to Alpha Centauri to reclaim the colony there. The starship from North America, the Mayflower II, arrives first, however its attempts to open a political dialogue with the inhabitants of Chiron fails when it becomes apparent that Chironian society has developed as an adhocracy
.
Since the availability of power from fusion
reactors and cheap automated labor has enabled them to develop a post-scarcity economy
, they do not use money as a means of exchange, nor do they recognize material possessions as symbols of status. Instead, competence and talent are considered symbolic of one's social standing – resources that cannot be counterfeited or hoarded, and must be put to use if they are to be acknowledged. As a result, the competitive drive that fuels capitalist financial systems has filled the colony with the products of decades of incredible artistic and technical talent, and there are no widespread hierarchies. No one person or group of people can know everything, so no one person or group of people is expected to speak for all. They have no centralized authorities; some would say they have no government at all
.
The government of the Mayflower II utilizes various methods used throughout human history in its attempts to exert control over the Chironians; bureaucratic
legislature, a capitalist
financial system, and proselytizing
religion. However, they are frustrated by failure at every turn: as a people that have never been exposed to Earth's coercive authorities, the Chironians lack the social conditioning to even comprehend the attempts at subversion. Soon many of the crew from the Mayflower II are abandoning their increasingly futile positions in the invading hierarchy in favor of adopting the more rewarding Chironian lifestyle. Amid widespread speculation that a violent conflict will soon break out, some of the people who arrived on the Mayflower II realize that the Chironians do not intend to harm the majority of the ship's occupants, but rather use a form of satyagraha
(Mahatma Gandhi
's philosophy of nonviolent
noncompliance) to integrate the peaceful travelers into their society and isolate the small number who present a real threat.
It is an outstanding success. Eventually a military coup is staged aboard the Mayflower II, and the leader of the coup launches the Mayflower II’s "battle module", an independently-functioning, heavily-armed warship, and threatens to attack the Chironian population unless they submit to his authority
. The Chironian's enemies isolated at last, he and his fellow authoritarians are killed when a direct attack with a high-energy antimatter particle beam weapon
destroys the battle module. The remaining members of the Mayflower II’s government vote to dissolve their government and absorb peacefully into Chironian society.
While all this is going on, the laser communications beam from Earth which has kept the Mayflower II apprised of current events back home is lost as the result of yet another catastrophic war. The story skips forward several years and ends with the Chironians — who have by now assimilated not only the North Americans but also the crews of the Asian and European starships — commissioning their own vessel which will return to Earth to rebuild it, thus fulfilling the Kuan-Yins mission of preserving human civilization
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by the author James P. Hogan
James P. Hogan (writer)
James Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.-Biography:Hogan was born in London, England. He was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London...
. It explores themes of anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
and the appropriateness of certain social values in the context of high-technology.
The inspiration for the novel was the contention that the ongoing
conflict in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
had no immediate practical solution, and could only be solved if the children of one generation were somehow separated from their parents, and hence did not learn any of their prejudices.
The novel was awarded the 1983 Prometheus Award
Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
for libertarian science fiction
Libertarian science fiction
Libertarian science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that focuses on the politics and social order implied by libertarian philosophies with an emphasis on individualism and a limited state-- and in some cases, no state whatsoever....
.
Plot summary
The story begins in the early 21st century, just as an as-of-yet unnamed automated space probeSpace probe
A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to...
is about to be sent from Earth to find habitable exoplanets. When it appears that an apocalyptic conflict is approaching, the probe's mission is changed from one of exploration to one of extrasolar space colonization
Space colonization
Space colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony...
, in the hope of preserving human civilization
Space and survival
Space and survival is the relationship between outer space and the long-term survival of the human species and civilization. Its investigation is justified by the fact that space colonization and space science could prevent many human extinction scenarios...
. As the technology does not yet exist to successfully convert the probe into a generation
Generation ship
A generation ship is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than the speed of light...
or sleeper ship
Sleeper ship
A sleeper ship is a hypothetical type of manned spaceship in which most or all of the crew spends the journey in some form of hibernation or suspended animation. There is currently no known technology that allows for long-term suspended animation of humans....
, it is instead modified for embryo space colonization
Embryo space colonization
Embryo space colonization is a theoretical interstellar space colonization concept that involves sending a robotic mission to a habitable terrestrial planet transporting frozen early-stage human embryos or the technological or biological means to create human embryos. The proposal circumvents the...
.
The probe's data banks are programmed with the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
sequences of several hundred humans, and as much of humanity's knowledge as possible. It is equipped with Artificial wombs capable of using this data to gestate human babies. Finally, it is crewed with robots programmed not only to maintain the ship, but also raise the babies to adulthood. To signify its new purpose, the probe is dubbed the Kuan-Yin, the bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
of childbirth
Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
.
Soon after the probe is launched, a major global war breaks out, but it is not as devastating as anticipated. It only takes several decades for the survivors to rebuild civilization, but as a repressive, authoritarian shadow of its former self. This is the civilization that receives a message from Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
, signaling the success of the Kuan-Yins mission. An Earth-like planet has been found in the system, and the Kuan-Yin has successfully raised its first generation of human children. They have dubbed the planet Chiron, after the mythological centaur
Chiron
In Greek mythology, Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur among his brethren.-History:Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents...
.
On Earth, the old international hostilities which led to war are still evident, and so the three major power blocs — North America, Asia, and Europe — each send a generation ship
Generation ship
A generation ship is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than the speed of light...
to Alpha Centauri to reclaim the colony there. The starship from North America, the Mayflower II, arrives first, however its attempts to open a political dialogue with the inhabitants of Chiron fails when it becomes apparent that Chironian society has developed as an adhocracy
Adhocracy
Adhocracy is a type of organization that operates in opposite fashion to a bureaucracy. The term was first popularized in 1970 by Alvin Toffler, and has since become often used in the theory of management of organizations , further developed by academics such as Henry Mintzberg.- Etymology :The...
.
Since the availability of power from fusion
Fusion power
Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
reactors and cheap automated labor has enabled them to develop a post-scarcity economy
Post scarcity
Post scarcity is a hypothetical form of economy or society, in which things such as goods, services and information are free, or practically free...
, they do not use money as a means of exchange, nor do they recognize material possessions as symbols of status. Instead, competence and talent are considered symbolic of one's social standing – resources that cannot be counterfeited or hoarded, and must be put to use if they are to be acknowledged. As a result, the competitive drive that fuels capitalist financial systems has filled the colony with the products of decades of incredible artistic and technical talent, and there are no widespread hierarchies. No one person or group of people can know everything, so no one person or group of people is expected to speak for all. They have no centralized authorities; some would say they have no government at all
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
.
The government of the Mayflower II utilizes various methods used throughout human history in its attempts to exert control over the Chironians; bureaucratic
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
legislature, a capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
financial system, and proselytizing
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
religion. However, they are frustrated by failure at every turn: as a people that have never been exposed to Earth's coercive authorities, the Chironians lack the social conditioning to even comprehend the attempts at subversion. Soon many of the crew from the Mayflower II are abandoning their increasingly futile positions in the invading hierarchy in favor of adopting the more rewarding Chironian lifestyle. Amid widespread speculation that a violent conflict will soon break out, some of the people who arrived on the Mayflower II realize that the Chironians do not intend to harm the majority of the ship's occupants, but rather use a form of satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
(Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
's philosophy of nonviolent
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
noncompliance) to integrate the peaceful travelers into their society and isolate the small number who present a real threat.
It is an outstanding success. Eventually a military coup is staged aboard the Mayflower II, and the leader of the coup launches the Mayflower II’s "battle module", an independently-functioning, heavily-armed warship, and threatens to attack the Chironian population unless they submit to his authority
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
. The Chironian's enemies isolated at last, he and his fellow authoritarians are killed when a direct attack with a high-energy antimatter particle beam weapon
Particle beam weapon
A particle beam weapon uses an ultra-high-energy beam of atoms or electrons to damage a material target by hitting it, and thus disrupting its atomic and molecular structure. A particle beam weapon is a type of directed-energy weapon, which directs energy in a particular direction by a means of...
destroys the battle module. The remaining members of the Mayflower II’s government vote to dissolve their government and absorb peacefully into Chironian society.
While all this is going on, the laser communications beam from Earth which has kept the Mayflower II apprised of current events back home is lost as the result of yet another catastrophic war. The story skips forward several years and ends with the Chironians — who have by now assimilated not only the North Americans but also the crews of the Asian and European starships — commissioning their own vessel which will return to Earth to rebuild it, thus fulfilling the Kuan-Yins mission of preserving human civilization
Space and survival
Space and survival is the relationship between outer space and the long-term survival of the human species and civilization. Its investigation is justified by the fact that space colonization and space science could prevent many human extinction scenarios...
.