Project Gutenberg 2015-12-23 Public domain in the USA. 129 Leiber, Fritz 1910 1992 Leiber, Fritz Reuter Later Than You Think Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Later Than You Think" by Fritz Leiber is a science fiction short story written in the early 1950s. The narrative explores themes of intelligence, extinction, and the nature of civilization through the interaction between an Explorer and an Archeologist who examines the remains of a previously unknown intelligent species that once inhabited Earth. The story contemplates the significance of their existence and the inevitability of cultural and species decline. In the story, the Explorer returns from an interstellar journey, disillusioned after failing to find intelligent life in space. Intrigued by the Archeologist's recent discovery of artifacts from an ancient, intelligent species, he becomes eager to learn more about them. The Archeologist describes the species as somewhat similar to humanity, highlighting their cultural achievements, technological advances, and eventual decline, potentially due to their inability to manage their emotions and aspirations. Throughout their conversation, the Explorer grapples with a sense of melancholy understanding as he recognizes the parallels between the lost species and humanity itself, culminating in a reflection on the impermanence of all civilizations. The story ends on a poignant note, emphasizing the shared fate of intelligent beings and the remnants they leave behind. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 42056 42061 2024-09-21T09:12:31.477950 2023-09-22T06:31:50.544621 text/html text/html 38315 2015-12-23T15:16:52 text/html; charset=us-ascii 220324 2015-12-23T15:16:54 text/html; charset=us-ascii application/zip 246455 2024-09-21T09:12:33.239908 application/epub+zip 245386 2024-09-21T09:12:31.862001 application/epub+zip 83804 2024-09-21T09:12:31.646926 application/epub+zip 280111 2024-09-21T09:12:34.450900 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 273214 2024-09-21T09:12:33.033948 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 111868 2022-09-23T05:25:55.752629 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 35947 35852 2024-09-21T09:12:31.374936 2023-09-22T06:31:50.227591 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 35878 2015-12-23T15:16:52 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 13936 2015-12-23T15:16:52 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 18767 2024-09-21T09:12:34.571898 application/rdf+xml 20997 2024-09-21T09:12:31.710948 image/jpeg 4013 2024-09-21T09:12:31.678918 image/jpeg 221372 2024-09-21T09:12:31.488978 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia