"Perhaps," said the Industrialist. "Yet think of the changes it would bring to society. A thought-projector!"
"Why not? Change would be good for us."
"I don't think so."
"It is only in old age that change is unwelcome," said the Astronomer, "and races can be old as well as individuals."
The Industrialist pointed out the window. "You see that road. It was built Beforethewars. I don't know exactly when. It is as good now as the day it was built. We couldn't possibly duplicate it now. The race was young when that was built, eh?"
"Then? Yes! At least they weren't afraid of new things."
"No. I wish they had been. Where is the society of Beforethewars? Destroyed, Doctor! What good were youth and new things? We are better off now. The world is peaceful and jogs along. The race goes nowhere but after all, there is nowhere to go. They proved that. The men who built the road. I will speak with your visitors as I agreed, if they come. But I think I will only ask them to go."
"The race is not going nowhere," said the Astronomer, earnestly. "It is going toward final destruction. My university has a smaller student body each year. Fewer books are written. Less work is done. An old man sleeps in the sun and his days are peaceful and unchanging, but each day finds him nearer death all the same."
"Well, well," said the Industrialist.
"No, don't dismiss it. Listen. Before I wrote you, I investigated your position in the planetary economy."