When I became interested in sustainability and writing, I decided to write a novel. It would be a novel based at some arbitrary point in time, not too far in the future. It would have one foot in the present, so as to be familiar and believable, and one foot in the future, attempting to explore ideas about what a sustainable world might look like.
Although I'd never written a book, and had only written a few nonfiction articles in the past, I already knew what the book's message would be: We cannot expect technology to solve all of our problems. Although technology will play an important role, the majority of the necessary changes will be lifestyle changes that we must make.
Since I currently do not read much fiction, I wasn't sure if such a book already exists. It appears that I have just found one -- sort of. Published in 1995 by the late Pierre Thuillier, the book is called La Grande Implosion. This translates to The Great Implosion, with the subtitle Report on the Collapse of the West 1999-2002. The book describes what could happen to the West if it does not start making some major changes.
Thuillier writes from the point of view of Professor Dupin, leading a group that is analyzing the fall of the West during the years 1999-2002. What makes the book interesting is that Thuillier has apparently extrapolated current trends that he saw when he wrote the book, and followed them to their (in his mind) natural conclusions.
The following excerpt is from the editor (excerpts are translated by me from the original French text):
Why did those in the West not see the coming catastrophe? Why did they view the warnings with contempt? Was it inevitable that the so-called civilized world fell into such a spiritual torpor at the end of the 20th century and destroyed itself between 1999 and 2002, the period which we now know as The Great Implosion?
Answering these questions, puzzling as they are, is what occupied our research group [...] for four years. And it is not without emotion that we deliver this report to the public, nearly a century after the fateful event. Date: July 2081.
Among other things, the book warns about the West's complete faith in science and technology, at the expense of spirituality of any kind, religious or otherwise. Poetry and love have been replaced everywhere, Thuillier says, by rationalism, super-competition and hate.
Searching a bit further on the Web, I was rewarded with a long interview (in French), where Thuillier gives an example of his wariness of all-powerful scientists:
It is clear that certain problems that appear in philosophy or religion are relegated to scientists today. In my eyes, that's a sort of abuse of power. It is clear, for example, that a problem such as sexism does not belong in a "scientific" discussion. The solution does not depend on the experts, but on a cultural and philosophical choice. Certainly, one can always discuss the issue and consult sociologists or psychologists... But questions of this nature must not be "colonized" by scientists.
This is very clear in the case of racism. Are there "races"? And are there "inferior" races? Certain biologists point to genetics for their reponse. They say for example, "Race does not exist, because we have not found genetic markers to support the theory." For one thing, there are researchers who contest that claim. But even if there really are no such markers (that is, genes truly specific to Africans, others specific to Indo-Europeans, etc.), it is incredible to imagine that one can base his attitude towards the diverse peoples of the planet on such criteria! It is not up to science to say, "There are genetic markers or not, therefore racism exists or not."
I wasted no time ordering La Grande Implosion after finishing Thuillier's fascinating interview. I predict that the book will provide me with ample material for future blog entries.
