According to Arthur Balfour, English Prime Minister and philosopher, Man’s very existence “is an accident”, his story “a brief and transitory episode in the life of one of the meanest of the planets”, a history of “blood and tears, of helpless blundering, of stupid acquiescence, of empty aspirations”. What was our future to be? After some millions of years, “the energies of our system will decay, the glory of the sun will be dimmed”. The Earth “tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit, and all his thoughts will perish”.

Foundations of Belief (1895)