Ishmael asks what evidence his culture uses to back up its claim of being flawed, and the narrator admits it only uses its own history - not the history of the Leavers or, that is to say, of hunter-gatherer cultures. The narrator is incredulous he can't believe that it's false that human nature is flawed. The narrator figures out that the unspoken "but" at the end of his story is that humans are inherently flawed and thus will continue to screw up their pursuit of paradise. Ishmael applauds the narrator's efforts, but asks him what the "but" is. The solution to those problems is to continue pursuing mastery of the world at every level so as to finally achieve a manageable paradise, and in doing so, be able to spread out and conquer the universe. He says that while man has been put on Earth to conquer it, in conquering it he's caused a lot of problems. First, Ishmael has the narrator review the story so far in doing so, the narrator is able to continue it. The next day, Ishmael and his student try to figure out the end of the story.
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