[Sienna’s hands were shaking as she continued. “In Bertrand’s letter to me, he sounded quite proud, saying he considered Inferno to be a very elegant and humane resolution of the problem.” Fresh tears formed in her eyes, and she wiped them away. “Compared to the virulence of the Black Death, I admit there is some compassion in this approach. There will be no hospitals overflowing with the sick and dying, no bodies rotting in the streets, and no anguished survivors enduring the death of loved ones. Humans will simply stop having so many babies. Our planet will experience a steady reduction in our birth rate until the population curve actually inverts, and our total numbers begin to decrease.” She paused. “The result will be far more potent than the plague, which only briefly curbed our numbers, creating a temporary dip in the graph of human expansion. With Inferno, Bertrand created a long-term solution, a permanent solution … a Transhumanist solution. He was a germ-line genetic engineer. He solved problems at the root level.”]- An excerpt from Inferno, Chapter 99.
The impact of what she had just read left her perturbed. She got up from her irksome position and kept the book aside inverted on the bedstand. She removed her glasses and gulped down water hastily. It was half past two at night and she had already protracted her bedtime to reach this very page. How she couldn't wait to know what exactly the virus did if it did not cause any immediate obvious effects. She had assured her mom that she would go to sleep as soon as the mystery gets disclosed. But had she known the aftermath of this revelation, she would have wanted to adjourn it right away.
Perplexed with what she had read, indisposition left her stark awake. She started pacing around her room with a ceaseless string of questions. 'What if Bertrand was right? If we are actually less than a second away from the extinction of human race!' She had a loop of ifs and buts playing in her head. And the contention was pretty obvious ,as a part of her completely agreed with him. From all that she came across everyday, she believed that the issues raised by Bertrand were befitting. The population expansion being witnessed by the world right now is at the brim of collapse. She had always given much thought to things going haywire around. The cities bustling with people. Clearly the human population is exploding. But then she started thinking about other species too; 'How is it that their numbers never rose to such alarming levels, so as to raise concern and become a threat? Maybe nature has its own way to keep things in check', she talked to herself. 'Perhaps the same applies to human race as well, the course of nature might eventually lead to extinction of humans also! So should we really be worried about it?' Her mental turmoil nudged her to resort to Google. She searched for answers to get to the root of this population crisis. 'What really defines overpopulation? Are we already there yet?' But to her surprise, what she found was quite contradictory.
Long back, somebody had presented the idea of overpopulation and the world just stepped foot forth to rehash it. The concept of overpopulation is apparently scary, but has also been labelled as a myth. What really would be consequential is the availability and utilization of resources to be able to sustain the growing needs of this ever-growing population. In the early nineteenth century it was prophesied by Thomas Malthus, that soon the world would run short of food to cater to the entire population, and it would lead to famines and eventually doom. That certainly did not happen, and even though the prognostication continues, new dates for Doomsday(s) keep coming up, none of them have so far befallen upon us [Refer].
Certainly the environment is at stake. The natural harmony is hampered. Technology and medical advancements have helped us defy the laws of nature in several ways. Be it humans versus animals, rural versus urban, affluent versus impoverished, industries versus forests, the graphs are all skewed. We are creating havoc in our planet, which is making us question its sustainability for our own selves, let alone the following generations.
The population crisis might hold true in the years to come. But what we are actually facing is urban overcrowding, leading to consequential desolation of some areas and mass afflictions in the overpopulated befouled cosmopolitans.
'Yes, It is a matter of paramount concern for each one of us. But how can someone just decide to take such atrocious actions themselves to alter the natural course of events?' she intrigued. 'A mastermind that Bertrand was, to have looked through these dainty events, who gave him the leverage to wreck the lives of millions of innocent people worldwide?' The search for solutions to innumerable plights of the present world breed prodigies like Bertrand, and our minds might also give in to his nasty yet solicitous ideas every so often. But his blatantly apathetic approach comes as a rude awakening.
She convinced herself that, 'Maybe, It isn't too late to act even now. Perhaps we could all do our bit in an attempt to let the world live, and let us continue to habitate it.'
Inaya (yes, I decided to name her so!), watched the fluttering curtains at her room's window and walked towards it. She stood still, gazing at the dark sky, feeling the breeze get past her, breathing quietly, benumbed, while she continued to ponder over and analyze the permutations of the idea behind Inferno. Her musings were then interrupted by the morning alarm!
Long back, somebody had presented the idea of overpopulation and the world just stepped foot forth to rehash it. The concept of overpopulation is apparently scary, but has also been labelled as a myth. What really would be consequential is the availability and utilization of resources to be able to sustain the growing needs of this ever-growing population. In the early nineteenth century it was prophesied by Thomas Malthus, that soon the world would run short of food to cater to the entire population, and it would lead to famines and eventually doom. That certainly did not happen, and even though the prognostication continues, new dates for Doomsday(s) keep coming up, none of them have so far befallen upon us [Refer].
Certainly the environment is at stake. The natural harmony is hampered. Technology and medical advancements have helped us defy the laws of nature in several ways. Be it humans versus animals, rural versus urban, affluent versus impoverished, industries versus forests, the graphs are all skewed. We are creating havoc in our planet, which is making us question its sustainability for our own selves, let alone the following generations.
The population crisis might hold true in the years to come. But what we are actually facing is urban overcrowding, leading to consequential desolation of some areas and mass afflictions in the overpopulated befouled cosmopolitans.
'Yes, It is a matter of paramount concern for each one of us. But how can someone just decide to take such atrocious actions themselves to alter the natural course of events?' she intrigued. 'A mastermind that Bertrand was, to have looked through these dainty events, who gave him the leverage to wreck the lives of millions of innocent people worldwide?' The search for solutions to innumerable plights of the present world breed prodigies like Bertrand, and our minds might also give in to his nasty yet solicitous ideas every so often. But his blatantly apathetic approach comes as a rude awakening.
She convinced herself that, 'Maybe, It isn't too late to act even now. Perhaps we could all do our bit in an attempt to let the world live, and let us continue to habitate it.'
Inaya (yes, I decided to name her so!), watched the fluttering curtains at her room's window and walked towards it. She stood still, gazing at the dark sky, feeling the breeze get past her, breathing quietly, benumbed, while she continued to ponder over and analyze the permutations of the idea behind Inferno. Her musings were then interrupted by the morning alarm!
