← Back to Concept Index
possibility-binders
Beings who transcend traditional orders of life by binding all possible realities into existence, representing the fourth evolutionary order beyond plants, animals, and men.
1 chapter across 1 book
The Big Time (1958)Fritz Leiber Jr.
Chapter 16 THE POSSIBILITY-BINDERS
In this chapter, the narrator reflects on the aftermath of recent conflicts and interpersonal tensions among a group trapped in the Change World, revealing complex relationships and mistrust. Illy, an alien octopoid, communicates telepathically to explain a profound evolutionary concept: the existence of four orders of life culminating in 'possibility-binders' or Demons, who transcend time and space by binding all possibilities, framing the ongoing Change War as an evolutionary dialectic rather than mere conflict.