{"id":25068,"date":"2025-11-15T08:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T12:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/?p=25068"},"modified":"2025-11-15T08:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T12:44:15","slug":"damon-knight-to-serve-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/short-stories\/damon-knight-to-serve-man\/25068\/","title":{"rendered":"Damon Knight: To Serve Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>\u201cTo Serve Man\u201d is a short story by Damon Knight, published in November 1950 in Galaxy Science Fiction<\/em> magazine. Aliens called Kanamites arrive on Earth with the promise of using their advanced technology to eradicate hunger, war, and disease. Although their grotesque appearance arouses suspicion at first, lie detector tests seem to confirm their sincerity. Amidst the general enthusiasm, a skeptical translator decides to study their language, convinced that there is a hidden motive behind such altruism.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Damon<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To Serve Man<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Damon Knight
(Full story)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kanamit were not very pretty, it\u2019s true. They looked something like pigs and something like people, and that is not an attractive combination. Seeing them for the first time shocked you; that was their handicap. When a thing with the countenance of a fiend comes from the stars and offers a gift, you are disinclined to accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know what we expected interstellar visitors to look like\u2014those who thought about it at all, that is. Angels, perhaps, or something too alien to be really awful. Maybe that\u2019s why we were all so horrified and repelled when they landed in their great ships and we saw what they really were like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kanamit were short and very hairy\u2014thick, bristly brown-grey hair all over their abominably plump bodies. Their noses were snoutlike and their eyes small, and they had thick hands of three fingers each. They wore green leather harness and green shorts, but I think the shorts were a concession to our notions of public decency. The garments were quite modishly cut, with slash pockets and half-belts in the back. The Kanamit had a sense of humour, anyhow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were three of them at this session of the U.N., and, Lord, I can\u2019t tell you how queer it looked to see them there in the middle of a solemn plenary session\u2014three fat piglike creatures in green harness and shorts, sitting at the long table below the podium, surrounded by the packed arcs of delegates from every nation. They sat correctly upright, politely watching each speaker. Their flat ears drooped over the earphones. Later on, I believe, they learned every human language, but at this time they knew only French and English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They seemed perfectly at ease\u2014and that, along with their humour, was a thing that tended to make me like them. I was in the minority; I didn\u2019t think they were trying to put anything over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegate from Argentina got up and said that his government was interested in the demonstration of a new power source, which the Kanamit had made at the previous session, but that the Argentine government could not commit itself as to its future policy without a much more thorough examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


It was what all the delegates were saying, but I had to pay particular attention to Senor Valdes, because he tended to sputter and his diction was bad. I got through the translation all right, with only one or two momentary hesitations, and then switched to the Polish-English line to hear how Gregori was doing with Janciewicz. Janciewicz was the cross Gregori had to bear, just as Valdes was mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janciewicz repeated the previous remarks with a few ideological variations, and then the Secretary-General recognized the delegate from France, who introduced Dr. Denis L\u00e9v\u00e8que, the criminologist, and a great deal of complicated equipment was wheeled in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. L\u00e9v\u00e8que remarked that the question in many people\u2019s minds had been aptly expressed by the delegate from the U.S.S.R. at the preceding session, when he demanded, \u201cWhat is the motive of the Kanamit? What is their purpose in offering us these unprecedented gifts, while asking nothing in return?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor then said, \u201d At the request of several delegates and with the full consent of our guests, the Kanamit, my associates and I have made a series of tests upon the Kanamit with the equipment which you see before you. These tests will now be repeated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A murmur ran through the chamber. There was a fusillade of flashbulbs, and one of the TV cameras moved up to focus on the instrument board of the doctor\u2019s equipment. At the same time, the huge television screen behind the podium lighted up, and we saw the blank faces of two dials, each with its pointer resting at zero, and a strip of paper tape with a stylus point resting against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor\u2019s assistants were fastening wires to the temples of one of the Kanamit, wrapping a canvas-covered rubber tube around his forearm, and taping something to the palm of his right hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the screen, we saw the paper tape begin to move while the stylus traced a slow zigzag pattern along it. One of the needles began to jump rhythmically; the other flipped over and stayed there, wavering slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are the standard instruments for testing the truth of a statement,\u201d said Dr. L\u00e9v\u00e8que. \u201cOur first object, since the physiology of the Kanamit is unknown to us, was to determine whether or not they react to these tests as human beings do. We will now repeat one of the many experiments which were made in the endeavour to discover this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to the first dial. \u201cThis instrument registers the subject\u2019s heartbeat. This shows the electrical conductivity of the skin in the palm of his hand, a measure of perspiration, which increases under stress. And this\u2014\u201d pointing to the tape-and-stylus device\u2014\u201cshows the pattern and intensity of the electrical waves emanating from his brain. It has been shown, with human subjects, that all these readings vary markedly depending upon whether the subject is speaking the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


He picked up two large pieces of cardboard, one red and one black. The red one was a square about three feet on a side; the black was a rectangle three and a half feet long . He addressed himself to the Kanama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhich of these is longer than the other?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe red,\u201d said the Kanama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both needles leaped wildly, and so did the line on the unrolling tape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI shall repeat the question,\u201d said the doctor. \u201cWhich of these is longer than the other?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe black,\u201d said the creature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time the instruments continued in their normal rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow did you come to this planet?\u201d asked the doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWalked,\u201d replied the Kanama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again the instruments responded, and there was a subdued ripple of laughter in the chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce more,\u201d said the doctor. \u201cHow did you come to this planet?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a spaceship,\u201d said the Kanama, and the instruments did not jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor again faced the delegates. \u201cMany such experiments were made,\u201d he said, \u201cand my colleagues and myself are satisfied that the mechanisms are effective. Now\u2014\u201d he turned to the Kanama\u2014\u201cI shall ask our distinguished guest to reply to the question put at the last session by the delegate of the U.S.S.R.\u2014namely, what is the motive of the Kanamit people in offering these great gifts to the people of Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kanama rose. Speaking this time in English, he said, \u201cOn my planet there is a saying, \u2018There are more riddles in a stone than in a philosopher\u2019s head.\u2019 The motives of intelligent beings, though they may at times appear obscure, are simple things compared to the complex workings of the natural universe. Therefore I hope that the people of Earth will understand, and believe, when I tell you that our mission upon your planet is simply this\u2014to bring to you the peace and plenty which we ourselves enjoy, and which we have in the past brought to other races throughout the galaxy. When your world has no more hunger, no more war, no more needless suffering, that will be our reward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the needles had not jumped once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegate from the Ukraine jumped to his feet, asking to be recognized, but the time was up and the Secretary-General closed the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I met Gregori as we were leaving the chamber. His face was red with excitement. \u201cWho promoted that circus?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tests looked genuine to me,\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA circus!\u201d he said vehemently. \u201cA second-rate farce! If they were genuine, Peter, why was debate stifled?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be time for debate tomorrow, surely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTomorrow the doctor and his instruments will be back in Paris. Plenty of things can happen before tomorrow. In the name of sanity, man, how can anybody trust a thing that looks as if it ate the baby?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a little annoyed. I said, \u201cAre you sure you\u2019re not more worried about their politics than their appearance?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said, \u201cBah,\u201d and went away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day reports began to come in from government laboratories all over the world where the Kanamit\u2019s power source was being tested. They were wildly enthusiastic. I don\u2019t understand such things myself, but it seemed that those little metal boxes would give more electrical power than an atomic pile, for next to nothing and nearly for ever. And it was said that they were so cheap to manufacture that everybody in the world could have one of his own. In the early afternoon there were reports that seventeen countries had already begun to set up factories to turn them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day the Kanamit turned up with plans and specimens of a gadget that would increase the fertility of any arable land by 60 to 100 per cent. It speeded the formation of nitrates in the soil, or something. There was nothing in the newscasts any more but stories about the Kanamu . The day after that, they dropped their bombshell,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou now have potentially unlimited power and increased food supply,\u201d said one of them. He pointed with his three-fingered hand to an instrument that stood on the table before him. It was a box on a tripod, with a parabolic reflector on the front of it. \u201cWe offer you today a third gift which is at least as important as the first two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He beckoned to the TV men to roll their cameras into closeup position. Then he picked up a large sheet of cardboard covered with drawings and English lettering. We saw it on the large screen above the podium; it was all clearly legible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are informed that this broadcast is being relayed throughout your world,\u201d said the Kanama. \u201cI wish that everyone who has equipment for taking photographs from television screens would use it now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Secretary-General leaned forward and asked a question sharply, but the Kanama ignored him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis device,\u201d he said, \u201cgenerates a field in which no explosive, of whatever nature, can detonate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was an uncomprehending silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kanama said, \u201cIt cannot now be suppressed. If one nation has it, all must have it.\u201d When nobody seemed to understand, he explained bluntly, \u201cThere will be no more war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


That was the biggest news of the millennium, and it was perfectly true. It turned out that the explosions the Kanama was talking about included gasoline and Diesel explosions. They had simply made it impossible for anybody to mount or equip a modern army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could have gone back to bows and arrows, of course, but that wouldn\u2019t have satisfied the military. Besides, there wouldn\u2019t be any reason to make war. Every nation would soon have everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody ever gave another thought to. those lie-detector experiments, or asked the Kanamit what their politics were. Gregori was put out; he had nothing to prove his suspicions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I quit my job with the U.N. a few months later, because I foresaw that it was going to die under me anyhow. U.N. business was booming at the time, but after a year or so there was going to be nothing for it to do. Every nation on Earth was well on the way to being completely self-supporting; they weren\u2019t going to need much arbitration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I accepted a position as translator with the Kanamit embassy, and it was there that I ran into Gregori again. I was glad to see him, but I couldn\u2019t imagine what he was doing there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought you were on the opposition,\u201d I said. \u201cDon\u2019t tell me you\u2019re convinced the Kanamit are all right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked rather shamefaced. \u201cThey\u2019re not what they look, anyhow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was as much of a concession as he could decently make, and I invited him down to the embassy lounge for a drink. It was an intimate kind of place, and he grew confidential over the second daiquiri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey fascinate me,\u201d he said. \u201cI hate them-instinctively still\u2014that hasn\u2019t changed\u2014but I can evaluate it. You were right, obviously; they mean us nothing but good. But do you know\u2014\u201d he leaned across the table\u2014\u201cthe question of the Soviet delegate was never answered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am afraid I snorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, really,\u201d he said. \u201cThey told us what they wanted to do\u2014\u2018to bring to you the peace and plenty which we ourselves enjoy\u2019. But they didn\u2019t say why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy do missionaries\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMissionaries be damned!\u201d he said angrily. \u201cMissionaries have a religious motive. If these creatures have a religion, they haven\u2019t once mentioned it. What\u2019s more, they didn\u2019t send a missionary group; they send a diplomatic delegation\u2014a group representing the will and policy of their whole people. Now just what have the Kanamit, as a people or a nation, got to gain from our welfare?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cCultural\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCultural cabbage soup! No, it\u2019s something less obvious than that, something obscure that belongs to their psychology and not to ours. But trust me, Peter, there is no such thing as a completely disinterested altruism. In one way or another, they have something to gain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why you\u2019re here,\u201d I said. \u201cTo try to find out what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCorrect. I wanted to get on one of the ten-year exchange groups to their home planet, but I couldn\u2019t; the quota was filled a week after they made the announcement. This is the next best thing. I\u2019m studying their language, and you know that language reflects the basic assumptions of the people who use it. I\u2019ve got a fair command of the spoken lingo already. It\u2019s not hard, really, and there are hints in it. Some of the idioms are quite similar to English. I\u2019m sure I\u2019Il get the answer eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore power,\u201d I said, and we went back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw Gregori frequently from then on, and he kept me posted about his progress. He was highly excited about a month after that first meeting; said he\u2019d got hold of a book of the Kanamit\u2019s and was trying to puzzle it out. They wrote in ideographs, worse than Chinese, but he was determined to fathom it if it took him years. He wanted my help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Well, I was interested in spite of myself, for I knew it would be a long job. We spent some evenings together, working with material from Kanamit bulletin boards and so forth, and with the extremely limited English-Kanamit dictionary they issued to the staff. My conscience bothered me about the stolen book, but gradually I became absorbed by the problem. Languages are my field, after all. I couldn\u2019t help being fascinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got the title worked out in a few weeks. It was How to Serve Man<\/em>, evidently a handbook they were giving out to new Kanamit members of the embassy staff. They had new ones in, all the time now, a shipload about once a month; they were opening all kinds of research laboratories, clinics and so on. If there was anybody on Earth besides Gregori who still distrusted those people, he must have been somewhere in the middle of Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was astonishing to see the changes that had been wrought in less than a year. There were no more standing armies, no more shortages, no unemployment. When you picked up a newspaper you didn\u2019t see H-BOMB or SATELLITE leaping out at you; the news was always good. It was a hard thing to get used to. The Kanamit were working on human biochemistry, and it was known around the embassy that they were nearly ready to announce methods of making our race taller and stronger and healthier\u2014practically a race of supermen\u2014and they had a potential cure for heart disease and cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t see Gregori for a fortnight after we finished working out the title of the book; I was on a long-overdue vacation in Canada. When I got back, I was shocked by the change in his appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat on earth is wrong, Gregori?\u201d I asked. \u201cYou look like the very devil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome down to the lounge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I went with him, and he gulped a stiff Scotch as if he needed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome on, man, what\u2019s the matter?\u201d I urged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Kanamit have put me on the passenger list for the next exchange ship,\u201d he said. \u201cYou too, otherwise I wouldn\u2019t be talking to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell\u201d I said \u201cbut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not altruists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to reason with him. I pointed out they\u2019d made Earth a paradise compared to what it was before. He only shook his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I said, \u201cWell, what about those lie-detector tests?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA farce,\u201d he replied, without heat. \u201cI said so at the time, you fool. They told the truth, though, as far as it went.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the book?\u201d I demanded, annoyed. \u201cWhat about that\u2014How to Serve Man<\/em>? That wasn\u2019t put there for you to read. They mean<\/em> it. How do you explain that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve read the first paragraph of that book,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy do you suppose I haven\u2019t slept for a week?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cWell?\u201d and he smiled a curious, twisted smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a cookbook,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE END<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTo Serve Man\u201d is a short story by Damon Knight, published in November 1950 in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. Aliens called Kanamites arrive on Earth with the promise of using their advanced technology to eradicate hunger, war, and disease. Although their grotesque appearance arouses suspicion at first, lie detector tests seem to confirm their sincerity. Amidst the general enthusiasm, a skeptical translator decides to study their language, convinced that there is a hidden motive behind such altruism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[1472,552,570],"class_list":["post-25068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories","tag-damon-knight","tag-science-fiction","tag-united-states","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":559,"label":"Short stories"}],"post_tag":[{"value":1472,"label":"Damon\u00a0Knight"},{"value":552,"label":"Science fiction"},{"value":570,"label":"United States"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/lecturia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Damon-Knight-Servir-al-hombre.webp",1024,1024,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Juan Pablo Guevara","author_link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/author\/spartakku\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":559,"name":"Short stories","slug":"short-stories","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":559,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":420,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":559,"category_count":420,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Short stories","category_nicename":"short-stories","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":1472,"name":"Damon\u00a0Knight","slug":"damon-knight","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1472,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":552,"name":"Science fiction","slug":"science-fiction","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":552,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":121,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":570,"name":"United States","slug":"united-states","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":570,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":294,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}