Inferno by Dan Brown, Entry 4
I finished reading Inferno this morning. I have to say it was well-written and enjoyable to read. Two big concepts running through the book are 'transhumanism' and the overpopulation, but the main thing I enjoyed about the book was the tour through Florence, Venice and Istanbul. I know, I could get a travel guide, but it was actually more fun to read it with all the storyline and stuff.
There were things I hadn't known about, like the beaky plague masks doctors wore when they were exposed to the infected. The book also made me aware of an industry that just has to exist in some form: the alibi industry. These are companies that provide you with fake work numbers, fake addresses, passports etc.. for a variety of purposes. Brown claims at the beginning that 'The Consortium', an extreme company of this type, is real -- well, I cannot overmuch believe that, but you never know I guess.
The bad news is that overpopulation is a problem and humanity will either deal with it in some noncatastrophic way, or nature will take care of it in its usual, catastrophic, way. The book raises the point that no one is actually taking action that will prevent what's to come. We're obviously not going to do anything about climate change, much less take on an issue like overpopulation. So, catastrophe it is, but probably not in my lifetime -- and I don't have kids.
So, if you're one of those people in the future after I'm dead hip-deep in other people's body parts, I'm really sorry we didn't fix this back in 2013. I don't have to tell YOU that this is going to be a big problem and that we didn't do anything to stop it, but I have the benefit of being dead and stuff. There was a movie made in 1974 called Soylent Green with Charleston Heston -- is it like that? Don't answer. I know, I'm gloating about being dead and all, but I was a real prick when I was alive and maybe my death was long and painful, so you can take solace in that.
There were things I hadn't known about, like the beaky plague masks doctors wore when they were exposed to the infected. The book also made me aware of an industry that just has to exist in some form: the alibi industry. These are companies that provide you with fake work numbers, fake addresses, passports etc.. for a variety of purposes. Brown claims at the beginning that 'The Consortium', an extreme company of this type, is real -- well, I cannot overmuch believe that, but you never know I guess.
The bad news is that overpopulation is a problem and humanity will either deal with it in some noncatastrophic way, or nature will take care of it in its usual, catastrophic, way. The book raises the point that no one is actually taking action that will prevent what's to come. We're obviously not going to do anything about climate change, much less take on an issue like overpopulation. So, catastrophe it is, but probably not in my lifetime -- and I don't have kids.
So, if you're one of those people in the future after I'm dead hip-deep in other people's body parts, I'm really sorry we didn't fix this back in 2013. I don't have to tell YOU that this is going to be a big problem and that we didn't do anything to stop it, but I have the benefit of being dead and stuff. There was a movie made in 1974 called Soylent Green with Charleston Heston -- is it like that? Don't answer. I know, I'm gloating about being dead and all, but I was a real prick when I was alive and maybe my death was long and painful, so you can take solace in that.
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