
Back to Methuselah, A Metabiological Pentateuch
By Bernard ShawLength12h 42m
About this audiobook
In the preface, Shaw speaks of the pervasive discouragement and poverty in Europe after World War I, and relates these issues to inept government. Simple primitive societies, he says, were easily governable while the civilised societies of the twentieth century are so complex that learning to govern them properly can't be accomplished within the human lifespan: People with experience enough to serve the purpose fall into senility and die. Shaw's solution is enhanced longevity: we must learn to live much longer; a centenarian should be less than middle aged. (Shaw was in his mid-60s when the plays were written). This change, Shaw predicts, will happen through Creative Evolution (evolutionary change that occurs because it is needed or wanted and not as a result of natural selection (Darwinism) as influenced by the Life Force (l'élan vital).
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics, General Fiction
Length12 hrs 42 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 24, 2022
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1THE DAWN OF DARWINISM
2THE ADVENT OF THE NEO-DARWINIANS
3POLITICAL INADEQUACY OF THE HUMAN ANIMAL
4COWARDICE OF THE IRRELIGIOUS
5IS THERE ANY HOPE IN EDUCATION?
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6HOMEOPATHIC EDUCATION
7THE DIABOLICAL EFFICIENCY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION
8FLIMSINESS OF CIVILIZATION
9CREATIVE EVOLUTION
10VOLUNTARY LONGEVITY
11THE EARLY EVOLUTIONISTS
12THE ADVENT OF THE NEO-LAMARCKIANS
13HOW ACQUIREMENTS ARE INHERITED
14THE MIRACLE OF CONDENSED RECAPITULATION
15HEREDITY AN OLD STORY
16DISCOVERY ANTICIPATED BY DIVINATION
17CORRECTED DATES FOR THE DISCOVERY OF EVOLUTION
18DEFYING THE LIGHTNING: A FRUSTRATED EXPERIMENT
19IN QUEST OF THE FIRST CAUSE
20PALEY'S WATCH
21THE IRRESISTIBLE CRY OF ORDER, ORDER!
22THE MOMENT AND THE MAN
23THE BRINK OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT
24WHY DARWIN CONVERTED THE CROWD
25HOW WE RUSHED DOWN A STEEP PLACE
26DARWINISM NOT FINALLY REFUTABLE
27THREE BLIND MICE
28THE GREATEST OF THESE IS SELF-CONTROL
29A SAMPLE OF LAMARCKO-SHAVIAN INVECTIVE
30THE HUMANITARIANS AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
31HOW ONE TOUCH OF DARWIN MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN
32WHY DARWIN PLEASED THE SOCIALISTS
33DARWIN AND KARL MARX
34WHY DARWIN PLEASED THE PROFITEERS ALSO
35THE POETRY AND PURITY OF MATERIALISM
36THE VICEROYS OF THE KING OF KINGS
37POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM IN EXCELSIS
38THE BETRAYAL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
39CIRCUMSTANTIAL SELECTION IN FINANCE
40THE HOMEOPATHIC REACTION AGAINST DARWINISM
41RELIGION AND ROMANCE
42THE DANGER OF REACTION
43A TOUCHSTONE FOR DOGMA
44WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEGENDS
45A LESSON FROM SCIENCE TO THE CHURCHES
46THE RELIGIOUS ART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
47THE ARTIST-PROPHETS
48EVOLUTION IN THE THEATRE
49MY OWN PART IN THE MATTER
50BACK TO METHUSELAH.