Instinct

Instinct is a science fiction short story by George O. Smith first published in 1959.

You can keep a good man down, if you've got enough headstart, are alert and persistent...

so long as he limits himself to acting like a good man....

The people who watch over the fate of the universe are unhappy that for the seventh time (after being slapped back to the stone age six times) humans have once again achieved atomic weapons and space flight without solving their internal problems.

So they kidnap a man to find out… 

Instinct was first published in Astounding Science Fiction March 1959. 

George Oliver Smith (1911-1981) (also known by the pseudonym Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.

Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957). Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.