:45:00
- They may do a betterjob of it than we have.
- By destroying the world?
:45:05
Are you quite sure that what
they saw destroyed was the world?
:45:08
Well, aren't you?
:45:10
l consider it dispassionately as a possibility.
Not hysterically as a fact.
:45:15
We have their own testimony
that they provoked the war.
:45:18
And they seem to have
provoked you into the bargain.
:45:20
l'm not saying that you're wrong, Hasslein,
but before l have them shot against a wall
:45:25
l want convincing that the handwriting
on the wall is calculably true.
:45:31
Now... convince me.
:45:36
By their own testimony, we know that apes
will acquire the power of intelligent speech.
:45:41
By Zira's testimony,
we know that she's pregnant with child.
:45:45
By my testimony, we know it
is genetically possible for this child,
:45:48
provided that we permit its birth,
:45:51
to bear or beget a talking ape by a dumb one
:45:53
in a present-dayjungle or a present-day zoo.
:45:57
But do you truly believe
that by deliberate present-day action
:46:00
we can neutralize
that possibility and alter the future?
:46:03
- Yes, Mr President, l do.
- Do you also believe that we should?
:46:08
Given the power to alter the future,
have we the right to use it?
:46:12
l don't know.
:46:14
l've wrestled with this,
Mr President, and l don't know.
:46:17
How many futures are there?
:46:19
Which future has God, ifthere is a God,
chosen for man's destiny?
:46:24
lf l urge the destruction ofthese two apes,
am l defying God's will or obeying it?
:46:29
- Am l His enemy or His instrument?
- An assassin would say the latter.
:46:34
- Do you approve of assassination?
- We condoned the attempted assassination
:46:38
of Hitler because he was evil.
:46:40
Would we have approved killing him
in babyhood when he was innocent,
:46:44
or killing his mother,
or slaughtering his remote ancestors?
:46:49
We have no proofthat these apes are evil.
:46:51
- There are very strong indications.
- Such as?
:46:54
The discrepancies in their answers
to the commission
:46:57
- suggest that, if properly interrogated...
- Are you suggesting that they weren't?