Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 71 — page 75: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION ““Why are we to be con- sidered cruel? Those men came wailing into their limited ‘world, bound by flesh that pained them and_ infested their reason with its own decay. Their vision was dimmed by the filter of clumsy chemical processes through which they strove to perceive the universe. They have been freed of false emotional judg- ment—they are happier now.” *““No! No!” heshouts. “They accepted pain; they accepted the idea of death. They loved life! They enjoyed the power they wielded over matter. Think of Benson and his poetry! Think of the way he tried to express other planets in words! What of music, painting and sculpture?” “Matter is an ultimately unrewarding servant. Beauty is a relative concept, invented by men, for men. The only eternal beauty is truth. Tell us what the universe is— then you will realise why we have freed your companions,” Smithson laughs sourly. Are these advanced intellects still 74 pursuing the end of the rainbow? “The whole question’s futile!’ he retorts. “You are wrong, Smithson. The universe is a mathematical concept.” ““Nonsense!” “Such refutations typify your mental processes, Smith- son. The explanation which we Offer is undeniable.” *““How can it be?” ““Matter consists of a bal- anced relationship between emissions from supposed atoms—they exist only as emissions, measured only by further emissions. Thus, matter is a series of formule.” *““‘But——- No, no, these formule, these laws, all must relate to something— that something will always escape you!” “Laws are absolutes, not qualities. The concept of the triangle existed before the triangle.” “You... you imply that matter conforms to laws, and not that laws are devised to cComicbooks- come: