There's
a lot of talk about politics in science fiction these days,
especially having to do with the Hugo awards. I've always thought
that science fiction was good place to play around with political
ideas. And I haven't given any kind of a damn about the Hugos or the
Nebulas in decades. The genre has just gotten too big, not just the
product of a few publishers and magazines. The World Science Fiction
Society and SFWA both have too narrow a focus to grasp what's really
going on.
A while
back, I followed Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan on Twitter – I'm more
of a Trash-humanist than a Transhumanist, but as a science fiction
writer I find the movement a source of ideas to steal -- er, I mean inspiration. He followed me
back, and sent me a link to get a free Kindle copy of his novel The Transhumanist Wager. The title
didn't sound particularly exciting to me, but I downloaded it,
because I thought I might be in the mood someday.
(Note
to those of you who want your books reviewed. Free copies are a big
help.)
Later,
I ran across a news item about Istvan, founder of the Transhumanist
Party, announcing that he was the party's 2016 presidential
candidate.
I've
come to believe that politics is the art of making and selling of
alternative realities. Science fiction is good place to demonstrate
your ideas for the future. A presidential candidate's science fiction
novel? What would that be like?
With
my expectations low, I read The Transhumanist Wager.
It's not
great literature. Istvan tends to tell rather than show. And he does
go on about his beloved Transhumanist ideas, especially in the last
third of the book. One line – worthy of Ed Wood – sticks in my
memory: “The explosion was humungous.”
But it
is an action-packed propaganda piece about Jethro Knights, a young
man with a lot in common with Istvan, and who, of course, is obsessed
with Transhumanism and abolishing death. The main villain is a
Anti-Transhumanist/pro-Christian religious leader with a band of pet
terrorists.
This is
in an alternate universe where politics are essentially Pro- and
Anti-Transhumanist. The bad guys manage to kill Jethro's fiance and
blame him for the terrorist act in which it happened. Jethro has to
flee the U.S., then hooks up with a Russian billionaire who was impressed
with an article about going back in time and bringing people back
from the dead. A new country, Transhumania, is created on an
artificial island. Scientists are offered big bucks and great deals
to live and work in this geek utopia dedicated to making Transhumanist
ideas into reality.
Of
course, the rest of the world, still obsessed with religion, attacks
Transhumania, but is no match for the futuristic defenses.
Transhumania takes over the world, and destroys all religious
monuments and Washington, D.C. – there is no mention of any
“collateral damage.”
I don't
think this part is going to much help in the presidential campaign.
Not all
people like the new world order, but thanks to superior technology,
Transhumania quashes the opposition. Jethro grows old as the
venerable world leader, then gets sick, dies, is frozen, and later is
revived in a wonderful Transhumanist future.
I found
myself turning the pages. My jaw dropped often. I enjoyed a peculiar
kind of delirium.
This
novel is political suicide in the religion-obsessed United States of
America, but Zoltan Istvan realizes this: “The
Transhumanist Party will not win this election. But it can change the
questions the real elected leaders will ask.”
I'm
all for making politicians face new ideas. And this should at least
make the upcoming elections more entertaining.
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