by Forrest James Ackerman and Ray Bradbury

“ It is doubtless but what the entire human race would have vanished, leaving the world to the more competent, though half-ignorant, hands of the beasts, who fought and killed one another for self-preservation and for food--not because of madness...and who did not have books and talk and have culture. ”

“ Some man was singing on the record--in a queerly interesting and familiar tongue, the ancient English. The singer seemed sad, almost crying. And Hedrik was thrilled as he played it over and over again, drinking in the new experience like wine on the lips of a connoisseur. The voice rose, fell, lingered. And Hedrik suddenly didn't feel like fighting anymore!
The music floated out over the tumbled ruins, descended to the ears of the other people. AND THE FIGHTING CEASED! They were transformed. They came running to crowd about the machine. ”

“ Finally only one hundred humans remained alive--and they kept fighting blindly, none of them realizing how close to oblivion they were crowding themselves and the future of humanity--and they went on killing, killing, killing! ”

“ Men, at their battle stations in the ships, pressed buttons, releasing radio bombs that blistered space and lifted whole cities up in shattered pieces and flung them down, grim ruins, reminders of man's ignorant hatreds and suspicions. ”

“ In the middle of the twenty-second century, every nation had a standard defense. The weapons of war of each were equal--not in proportion to size, but actually, since man-power no longer counted high. ”

“ Another thing--there was no work to be done. Robots did it. And there seemed nothing left to discover, invent or enjoy. Art was at its perfection, poetry was mathematically correct and unutterably beautiful--worked out by the Esthetic machines. Sculptoring had been given the effect complete, artists hands guided by wonderful pieces of machinery. Huge museums were crammed with art put out synthetically. ”

“ The ancestor of the Eohippus, the little four-toed Dawn Horse, was discovered; the direct line between man and ape established in skeletal remains; the seat of life itself definitely proved Holarctica. And great bio-chemists, skilled in the science of vital processes, had created synthetic tissues and muscles and flesh, built upon the frames that had been recovered bodies with skillful modeling...even supplied them with blood and given them the spark of LIFE.......so that Paleobotonists recreated the flora of a prehistoric era. ”

“ Music was the balancing force...the force that would help them struggle ahead rebuilding the world. And next time they would be saner..they knew..the lesson of luxury had been learned and learned well. Never again would they leave all of the work to the machines. Now they would work and sing and play.
It would be work..hard work..for some time to come. But they had found music again, and that would anchor them to sanity.
And thus was mankind saved through a record--SONNY BOY! ”

“ In the regulated climates of long dead ages, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals lived again for the edification of those interested in the very ancient--or who were amused with queer animals. ”

“ Rays that hypnotized caused even the strong minded to commit suicide or reveal military secrets. Rays that effected the optical nerves swept cities and left the population groping and blind, unable to find food. ”