Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

Kditorial AN HAS BEEN CIVILIZED, in the sense of living and working together, for several thousands of years, longer than recorded history and far longer than most people realise. He has lived in an industrial environment for something less than 300 and, during the past few years, has experienced a snowball of technological progress which has jumped from steam power to atomic power within the lifetime of an individual. Is it any cause for wonder that progress in material things has outstripped our social structure? And is it any wonder that man is basically what he has always been? Man is a predatory animal. If he wasn’t, then he wouldn’t - be where he is today. Man has preyed, successfully, on every other form of life as well as his own. He still preys on all forms of life, including his own, This is so well recognised in our social structure that every business is conducted on the lines that everyone else is dishonest. That is why Banks have vaults and grills, guards and an elaborate sys- tem of checking. That is why large stores employ detectives, why communities employ a police force and why nations have standing armies. Man, as an animal, is utterly ruthless in taking what he wants for his own survival. It has often been suggested that, as mankind progresses, he will become noble. Old literature is full of dream- world Utopias which show the millenniumas a beautiful world peopled with God-like men and women, none of whom harbour a destructive thought. These worlds all suffer from the same basic flaw; they are totally unrealistic. Competition, the struggle for personal advantage, has been the driving force of man throughout history. There have always been wars comiclooks.conrn