The Last Evolution

Cotor introduction: When intelligence moves beyond its makers

John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1932 story imagines a future in which machines can think, act, and invent independently. Humanity and its creations must confront a danger neither can ignore, while intelligence itself continues to change.

Read this as speculative fiction, then ask what cooperation between people and intelligent machines should mean. Which decisions belong to humans? What responsibilities remain with a creator when a creation becomes independent? Your own answer could be the beginning of another story.

This introduction was written for Cotor and is separate from the original story. The complete English text follows as one continuous chapter, retaining its scene breaks and numbered references. Its original footnotes appear on the closing page.