Project Gutenberg 2007-12-20 Public domain in the USA. 102 Smith, George O. (George Oliver) 1911 1981 Smith, George Oliver Long, Wesley Martinez Instinct Produced from Astounding Science Fiction March 1959. Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team "Instinct" by George O. Smith is a science fiction novella penned in the late 1950s. The story revolves around the themes of communication, human nature, and the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations, specifically reflecting on the interactions between humans from Earth (referred to as Terra) and a more advanced alien race. The narrative explores the difficulties that arise when different species attempt to understand each other's motivations and behaviors. The plot centers on Jerry Markham, a Terran astronaut, who is captured by an alien race after landing on a foreign planet. The aliens, led by Chelan, are intrigued but perplexed by the Terrans' propensity for conflict and their relentless drive to push boundaries despite past failures. As Markham finds himself isolated from communication and subjected to experimental isolation to uncover the secrets of human instinct, he begins to reflect deeply on memory and communication. Ultimately, the aliens learn that despite shutting off his sensory inputs, the essence of Markham's being—the drive to connect and communicate—remains unyielding, prompting a recognition of humanity’s persistent will to thrive, even when faced with adversity. The story concludes with the aliens reconsidering their approach to humanity, acknowledging its resilience and intrinsic nature. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 54751 2025-08-10T05:29:38.057643 text/html 55927 2021-06-26T23:41:55 text/html 118658 2025-08-10T05:29:41.936654 application/epub+zip 117459 2025-08-10T05:29:39.737652 application/epub+zip 85755 2025-08-10T05:29:38.633663 application/epub+zip 229620 2025-08-10T05:29:43.566648 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 222139 2025-08-10T05:29:41.241639 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 122225 2022-09-11T07:43:48.948952 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 47157 2025-08-10T05:29:37.793649 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 46939 2021-06-26T23:49:16 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18919 2025-08-10T05:29:43.698601 application/rdf+xml 9977 2025-08-10T05:29:39.111670 image/jpeg 2742 2025-08-10T05:29:38.872652 image/jpeg 18712 2021-06-26T23:49:41 application/octet-stream application/zip 53596 2021-06-26T23:50:04 application/octet-stream application/zip 118148 2025-08-10T05:29:38.067654 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia