Prophetic novel "The Scarlet Plague" turned 100 years. One of the first in the history of world literature dystopian and one of the most famous works of Jack London, published in the journal London Magazine in 1912.
Now the story seems clear. At the beginning of the XXI century epidemic of mysterious disease covers the earth. People are dying per day, survived one million. Civilization was killed a few days. The action of the novel takes place 60 years after the events.
The protagonist - adult sitting on the wild coast, near San Francisco, tells his grandson goatherd the days when former world died. The most amazing thing in the work is the accuracy with which Jack London describes the earth in the beginning of XXI century."Choice" for president
"In the face of the old man's shadow flickered usual bitterness and again he brought the coin to his eyes.
- In 2012! - He yelped and poured into a hysterical giggle. - The management was then appointed Morgan tycoons Fifth President of the United States! This seems to be one of the last minted coins - Scarlet Death came in 2013. Lord, it is unbelievable! It's been 60 years since then and I'm the only one alive before. Edwin, where did you find this money? "
As you know in November will hold presidential elections in the U.S.. But supporters of the various conspiracy theories have long argued that the United States, and thus the whole, the world secretly run a handful of financiers and politicians. This is called a closed Bohemian Club, which comes almost all the financial and political elite of the United States. The club is privately owned near San Francisco. Once a year, "La Boheme" to collect it. What they do - is unknown. Officially, people go on vacation, but many feel that solved major problems of world politics.
How many people live on the planet
"- The world was filled with people. The number of the world's population according to the census of 2010 was eight billion, yes, yes, eight billion - eight shells cancer. Not like now. People knew many ways of obtaining food. The more food there is, the more people got. In 1800 in Europe the population was 170 million. After one hundred years - put a grain of sand, Hou-Hou - in 1900, was already five hundred million, then the five grains should be added one tooth. This shows how easy it was to extract food and how fast the population had increased. In 2000 Europe was already fifteen hundred million. It was everywhere. These eight shells mean eight billion people who inhabit the earth at the time when he started Scarlet horse .... '
Jack London is very wrong - in early September this year, the UN, the world population is about 7,000,000,000 100,000. Given the fact that during the writer's men were only about 1.6 billion, he has a good prophet.
"The Scarlet Plague" - Ebola fever?
"... - Plague burned in the summer of 2013. I was twenty-seven and I remember very well all. Wireless telegraph messages ...
Cleft lip spat with indignation and the old man hastened to explain:
- At this time we are able to talk on the air at a distance of thousands of miles. And here came the news that New York is raging unknown disease. In this most magnificent city in America then lived seventeen million. At first no one gave importance to this message. Small work - several people had died! Gave the impression, however, that death had occurred very quickly and the first sign of the disease was flushing of the face and body. After twenty-four hours came the announcement that Chicago has registered this case ... "
In this passage, there are several predictions. First, in the words of the old man to see a hint of cellular or satellite link. Then - for the people of New York: the writer believes that it is 17 million. In fact, now the city and its suburbs now living 18.8 million. But maybe you just did not take account of the U.S. invasion of illegal immigrants? And most importantly - the disease. Symptoms of "red plague" are very similar to the symptoms of Ebola fever. The virus was discovered in 1976 in the Congo. Mortality was 90%. There have been several outbreaks (the last time last week, when 31 people died in the Congo). One of the first symptoms - red-pink rash on the body. Ebola vaccine does not exist.
And ... a few predictions
"... I was all alone in his big house. As I told you at the time we could talk to each other via cable or just air. The phone rang and I heard my brother ... "
Looks like another case of mobile communication.
"... After twenty-four hours, he said he no longer appear transatlantic aircraft - preksanata's relationship with Britain ..."
You will recall that during the writing of the novel (1912) to the first flight across the Atlantic remained for 15 years. Regular passenger transport between continents began after World War II.
Not all is lost?
In "The Scarlet Plague" Jack London paints a bleak picture of the bloody wildlife. Yet in this book the author shows optimism, his faith in man. He says that man will still be able to conquer nature. Do you believe?
"... We who upravlyavahem our planet - earth, sea and sky - the former masters of the life we live now as primitive barbarians along the Gulf of California. But we quickly multiply - sister, cleft lip, has four children. We multiply rapidly and begin to draw closer to civilization. When we become closer to live, it will force us to distribute over more and more, and generation after generation will spread slowly across the continent to the east - New Aryans will fill the world ... "
No comments:
Post a Comment