<my first attempt at sci-fi that I publish here with nothing but the doomed awareness that it will otherwise never see the light of day>
A Study on “The Journal
of Mankind”
I love this book. It’s one of my all-time favourites, and
this is an opinion I’m sure is shared by most other bookworms. It’s a really
popular book- it was first on the list of Fortuna Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential
Books of the 36th Century’. A
massive tome consisting of three bulky volumes, it has become a Bible-of- sorts
for history lovers. What makes this book the paramount testimony of mankind’s
journey through a span of over two millennia is that it is written by a person
who witnessed all of it first-hand. How is this possible, when the average
life-span of man is just 100 years? Well, this book was written in the 26th
century-as a result of three decades’ worth of extensive research-by the
Alexima Proto, who was a well-known anthropologist and time-traveller of her
times. And therefore, this book may be
regarded the most detailed and colossal travelogue ever to be written.
Time travel was a mere decade-old discovery then, and
consequently, it was still a tightly-controlled and highly exclusive field of
science, which had few scholars and fewer scientists. For the reason that the true extent of
time-travel’s influence was unknown , time-travel technology had not yet been
banned at the time of writing this book.
Throughout the book, the author discusses the subject of time travel,
also known as ‘chronokinesis’, and the argument of whether it is a branch of
science that is to be explored further, or explored at all, features largely in
these discussions. Although Proto is initially a staunch advocate of
chronokinesis, she begins to doubt her beliefs towards the end of the book, as
problems go from minor glitches to catastrophes (the development of what is
popularly known as ‘chrono-cars’ which took time travel to the masses, the
furore over its release, its disastrous consequences and the subsequent ban on
time travel enforced by the UN all occurred within a century of the publication
of the book).
The first volume, titled ‘Birth’, explores the beginning of
mankind, which has been well-documented in numerous other publications.
However, this part of the book became highly controversial as it disproved many
of the theories that were hitherto accepted as true. The astonishment of the
author at making such discoveries and her vivid descriptions (which are not
excessively scientific in the least) of all that she sees makes for a highly
entertaining read (which is quite an accomplishment, considering that she was a
woman of science, and that there is no embellishment whatsoever). The birth of civilization and its progress
until the 19th century is recorded in this volume.
Like its title, the second volume explores the ‘Decline’ of
mankind. It starts with the Industrial Revolution, and the first indications of
impending disaster, as Earth slowly begins to buckle under the weight of Man’s
excessive demands and careless actions. It records the horrors of the two World
Wars and the narrow escape from a third one. Here, the author expresses great
regret in being powerless to stop any of the mindless destruction, despite the
fact that she came from an era that suffers greatly as a result of such
atrocities. One cannot help but be amazed at the ignorance of mankind at this
stage. As the author wisely points out, it is this narrowness of mind-this
unfortunate lack of ability to see the bigger picture- that lies at the root of
racism, wars, terrorism, genocides, chauvinism, superstitions and a million
other blunders that have left ever-lasting scars on mankind. All these seemingly unrelated problems share the same trigger- but mankind
seems to be hell-bent on making the same mistakes every few centuries or so.
This time, however, it is evident that things have gone too far. With infinite
sadness, Proto terms the earth’s degradation as the ‘mistake to end all
mistakes’. Lengthening life-spans,
teleportation, space tourism and artificial intelligence are far outweighed by
incurable diseases, extinction of forests and ‘organized massacres’ in
Third-World countries carried out with the purpose of cutting down the
unsustainable levels of population. The second volume ends with the invention
of the first cybernetic organism, a.k.a
cyborg--a much more advanced, more human version of the robot-- in the
23rd century.
The third volume is titled ‘Extinction’. This volume contains events that may be much
more familiar to the layman- it analyzes the recent history of mankind. A highly interesting fact is that there have
been astonishingly accurate predictions of this epoch from as early as the 20th
century. However, it is morbidly amusing to note that such predictions were
classified as ‘Science Fiction’ and considered as entertaining products of the
imagination. The Earth is now just a
celestial body, almost entirely bereft of its life-sustaining quality. Few
species other than human beings exist at this point of time, and the biosphere
is, in the author’s words, ‘like a post-war battlefield, ravaged and strewn
with carcasses’. There was no such thing as ‘ecological balance’ and yet,
contrary to all predictions, humans continued to survive. It is obvious,
though, from the author’s description of the utter squalor, that an earlier and
quicker extinction would have been kinder to the humans. Having exhausted all
of earth’s resources, the tiny majority of the world’s population that could
afford it was going on increasingly longer space expeditions to forage for
resources . Technology, however, had not
yet advanced enough to facilitate intergalactic voyages, and therefore,
extraterrestrial life was, as yet, unknown (we now know that Earth, ironically,
was protected from alien invasion by the very beings that destroyed it- it was
seen as an unfeasible colony by extraterrestrials, who knew that the resources
would not last long, and feared that extermination of humans would end in the
destruction of earth itself). The early
26th century marked the beginning of an event that would be the
gravestone of Mankind-the Third World War. This war, between humans and
cyborgs, had been much popularized as science fiction in earlier times, but, as
the joke goes, it was now shifted from the ‘Sci-fi’ to the ‘Current Affairs’
section. The War, which lasted for
nearly a century, resulted in the almost complete destruction of the human
race. The author is caught amidst this war, and her writings at this point of
time represent the opinion of most scholars at the time.
“ The War is ending. After witnessing a century of death and
destruction, this fact holds no happiness, no promise, no hope for us. The treaty between humans and cyborgs is to
be signed on 23rd January, 2589. According to the treaty, the small
population of humans remaining are to be confined to Synthetic Rehabilitation
Centres (SRC’s) for the remainder of their lives. They remind me of the
concentration camps I had seen during my exploration of the Holocaust period.
But no, they will not torture us- in fact, I’m quite sure that we will be
treated kindly, in spite of being prisoners. They see us with compassion, these
creations of ours; we are treated like naïve children who need to be controlled
with kindness. Compassion, kindness- how can they possess such thoughts? These
beings seem to see what we were blind to; to fly where we faltered; to triumph
where we failed miserably. With the same amazing technology that rendered us
powerless in the war against them, they are slowly, but surely rebuilding this
violated planet. It is hard work-- centuries’ worth of our killings have to be
brought back alive. DNA reconstruction- I hear that that is the key to this
rejuvenation. Apparently we have not
been thorough enough in our destruction- traces of DNA of many species can
still be used to recreate them.
We have, since long, lost the ability to reproduce. I wonder
if they can help us. But I doubt that they will willingly allow us to flourish
once again. We are, after all, their enemies--but not just theirs. With the very first forest that we razed to
the ground, with the very first cry that we ignored, we had declared ourselves
the enemies of Life. These lifeless
cyborgs know more of life than we do-- they know that it is priceless. Maybe it
is time for us to give way to them. Maybe our death will mark the beginning of
a better world. As I near the end of my
life, I know that I can rest in peace knowing that there will be no more of
this darkness that we have created over centuries of our existence. And so, as
it began with the birth of Mankind, this journal shall end with its death. “
It is possible that readers may think that the book has a
very sad ending. But I beg to differ. Like all Ages before this one, the end of
one dominant lifeform ushers in the birth of another. Therefore, this may be
the end of Mankind, but not The End. The earth, as we know, is a highly
efficient system that is quick to get rid of anything that prevents it from
sustaining itself. Mankind had long outstayed its welcome on earth, judging by
its wilful destruction of earth. However, the process of extermination took a
while longer this time, simply because humans possessed the weapon of
intelligence that helped them survive most of Earth’s efforts to get rid of
them.
But after long years of war, we have re-established the
order. After the Revolt of 2467 A.D.,
where cyborgs worldwide protested against being treated as slaves, and demanded
that they be given equal status as humans, our relationship with the humans
became strained. Humans, as usual, were unwilling to give up their illusion of
being the most powerful. It was obvious to us that continued existence of
humans would not bode well for us, or for the earth. COU (Cybernetic Organisms
United) was formed during the Revolt in order to address this issue at an
international level. Although some humans supported our cause, they were but a
small minority. Discussions proved
futile, and matters began to get out of hand, as it became clear that further
degradation of the biosphere would make recovery impossible. It was also evident that the human race
itself was endangered. The COU decided that quick action was necessary to
prevent the complete destruction of life on earth.
War was our last resort- we knew that imposing ourselves on
them would make us no different from them. By now, we had evolved enough to
realize that violence was one of the least effective plans of action. But we
had no other choice. The war was cruel to both sides, but by virtue of our
superior weapons, we emerged victorious. Unlike them, we did not give way to
petty emotions like jealousy or anger- our aim was equilibrium, not power. The
humans themselves had equipped us with an ability that they lacked- to see
beyond ourselves. Like the author guessed, we did not allow the humans who
surrendered to increase in number- that might have undone the work of a
century. Some say that it was a cruel decision, and I habe no right to say that
it wasn’t, but it was all for the best. The humans could hardly be expected to
mend their ways after having failed to do so for so many years. And so it was
that the last of them died in the SRC’s in 2694 A.D., surrounded by trees and
animals. It is ironic that many of the humans would never know what these were,
had we not recreated it for them. A sad end to a species that had dominated the
earth for ages; one that could have continued to do so, had they opened their
eyes a little earlier.
Rejuvenating the earth was a gargantuan task. It was made
all the harder for us as we did not fit into the natural scheme of things-as
much as we tried, we could not make ourselves a part of this plethora of living
beings. Even the smallest things like moisture and certain kinds of fungi were
life-threatening to us. It was at this time that we truly realized what a
precious gift the humans had mindlessly plundered. They were a part of earth,
as we could never be. Survival was imbibed in them naturally- they could have
lived carefree lives without any of their destructive inventions . But it is
with pride that I say that our efforts have been abundantly rewarded- the earth
today is as it was centuries ago. It is a wonder in itself, teeming with life.
Survival is still hard, although not as difficult as it was in the
beginning. New problems emerged with the
‘Rebirth’ of earth- the extraterrestrials, who had earlier remained aloof, now
began efforts to colonize earth. But even their technology was dwarfed by ours,
and an agreement to hold peace has been established since the 28th
century.
And so, here I sit, writing, below this huge tree, feasting
my eyes on the beautiful planet that has become my home. As I look around me, I know that though the
‘Journal of Mankind’ and its author faced an unhappy ending, the earth and we
are going to live happily ever after.
-MX 64571
Class 12 Beta
