Theme: Someone forgot to change the filter in the gene pool
Time:
48:05 Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Cyril Kornbluth, “Little Black Bag.” William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic.” Paul Erlich,
The Population Bomb and
The Population Explosion. Douglas Adams
Hitchiker’s Guide series.
Films.
Idiocracy. Water World. Mad Max.
Ideas. Social stratification based on intellect and education. Suspended animation. Temporal and cultural displacement. Sales people are universally maligned. Overpopulation. We gradually learn about the curious devolution of technology and culture. Shouldn’t evolution mean progress? The idea of meritocracy. The clash of ideas about responsible action with regard to population control. The Flynn Effect - connections between intelligence and progress. A dark turn … discussion of proposed solutions to the population problem. The Plan is based on manipulation through media. Let’s relocate the problem people to Venus! Nationalism! Paranoia! Colonization! oh my. Planetary systemic genocide, oh my. Jack Ketch. Fear of educated elite. Social experiments about merit tend to fail. Contemporary fear of expertise and science. Contemporary meritocracy based on monetary gain. Don’t Kill Me … I’m a Home Brewer. Why is there so much bad alcohol in post-apocalyptic sci fi?
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Combo special here … we need a Venn diagram. A little bit of all three here.
Previous episode: Poul Andersen, “Sam Hall”
Next episode: C.J. Cherryh, “Pots”
Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link:
Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/