"Genius of the Species" is a short story by Reginald Bretnor (first published with the author name "R. Bretnor"), which originally appeared in the anthology 9 Tales of Space and Time edited by Raymond Healy.
The story is set in the Soviet Union where a rat problem is getting out of control due to the laziness of cats. This problem is solved by a government program to use artificial means to raise the intelligence of cats to an IQ of 20.2 so that they can be taught Marxism and subsequently realize catching rats is for the greater good. However, due to a calculation error on part of the scientist responsible for this program, the cats end up with an IQ of 202 rather than 20.2. With this superior intellect cats become the dominant species in the Communist world.
Famous quotes containing the words genius of the, genius of, genius and/or species:
“Those who write for lucre or fame are grosser Iscariots than the cartel robbers, for they steal the genius of the people, which is its will to resist evil.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtle, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humour and so little wit in their literature.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“O, woman! blinded by custom, look forth upon the world with your own eyes, and see ... things as they are. Consult yourself instead of man,... for in cultivating your own individuality, you are gliding into your true position in society.”
—Harriet N. Torrey, U.S. women’s magazine contributor. The Genius of Liberty, pp. 81-2 (August 1853)
“If there is a species which is more maltreated than children, then it must be their toys, which they handle in an incredibly off-hand manner.... Toys are thus the end point in that long chain in which all the conditions of despotic high-handedness are in play which enchain beings one to another, from one species to another—cruel divinities to their sacrificial victims, from masters to slaves, from adults to children, and from children to their objects.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)