The End of Eternity

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The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov is a science fiction novel, with mystery and thriller elements, on the subjects of time travel and social engineering. It was first published in 1955.

The Eternity of the title is an organisation which exists outside time. It is staffed by humans (specifically male humans only) called Eternals who are recruited from different eras of human history starting in the twenty-third century. The Eternals have the capability of ranging up and down time and entering the conventional world at any point of their choice. Collectively they form a corps of Platonic guardians who carry out carefully planned actions within the temporal world in order to minimise human suffering as integrated over the whole of human history.

This has the effect of denying humanity's access to the stars, as alien species advance technologically and confine humanity to Earth. The story's protagonist, realizing this, sabotages the initial creation of the Eternals, allowing humanity to explore the stars. The plot provides an example of a Strange loop. The Eternals make use of time travel in an effort to protect humanity while the bulk of humanity has no idea that Eternity exists in order to change Reality. The Eternals never realize that they are themselves causing the biggest catastrophe that ever besets human kind. In order to correct the situation, humans from the distant future must secretly infiltrate and manipulate the Eternals.

The story can be read as a satire on utilitarianism or a criticism of paternalism.

Asimov placed a hint in Foundation's Edge that the Eternals might have been responsible for the all-human galaxy of the Foundation Series, but that interpretation is disputed.