“Man had dominated the Earth by virtue of a single assumption: that an effect could be traced to a cause, itself the effect of a previous cause. Manipulation of this basic law yielded rich results; there seemed no need for any other tool or instrumentality. Man congratulated himself on his generalized structure. He could live on desert, on plain or ice, in forest or in city; Nature had not shaped him to a special environment.
He was unaware of his vulnerability. Logic was the special environment; the brain was the special tool.”

— Jack Vance

Infinity Science Fiction (July 1957)
Short fiction, The Men Return (1957)

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Jack Vance 213

American mystery and speculative fiction writer 1916–2013

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