Childhood's End

by Arthur C. Clarke · 1952
Cover of Childhood's End

Mentioned in 2 episodes across 1 podcast: Joe Rogan Experience.

About the book

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival ends all war, helps form a world government, and turns the planet into a near-utopia. Many questions are asked about the origins and mission of the aliens, but they avoid answering, preferring to remain in their ships, governing through indirect rule. Decades later, the Overlords eventually show themselves, and their impact on human culture leads to a Golden Age. However, the last generation of children on Earth begin to display powerful psychic abilities, heralding their evolution into a group mind, a transcende… Read more
Childhood’s End is a 1953 science fiction novel by British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival ends all war, helps form a world government, and turns the planet into a near-utopia. Many questions are asked about the origins and mission of the aliens, but they avoid answering, preferring to remain in their ships, governing through indirect rule. Decades later, the Overlords eventually show themselves, and their impact on human culture leads to a Golden Age. However, the last generation of children on Earth begin to display powerful psychic abilities, heralding their evolution into a group mind, a transcendent form of life.

Where it comes up

Joe Rogan Experience

  • #2545 - Jesse Michels · 2026-08-25 · with Jesse Michels
    “this this thing that we think is so important. There's a great book by the great Arthur C. Clark called Childhoods End and he talks about aliens sort of incepting the world through telepathic children and it's so it's again”
    ▶ Listen from 52:28
  • #2533 - Diana Pasulka · 2026-07-30 · with Diana Pasulka
    “and believe and he said that this is going to you see this by the way the Arthur C. Clark in his book in his short story childhoods and or know it's a book um where you know that he's talking about aliens where these aliens are engineering humanity through technology through social media and”
    ▶ Listen from 1:39:39