Science fiction is the literature of the human species encountering change, whether it arrives via scientific discoveries, technological innovations, natural events, or societal shifts. In 1949, George Stewart wrote a science fiction novel entitled Earth Abides about civilization collapsing under the effects of a disease which wipes out most humans and they must build anew. On the book was this quote:"If a killing type of virus strain should suddenly arise by mutation...it could, because of the rapid transportation in which we indulge nowadays, be carried to the far corners of the earth and cause the deaths of millions of people." W. M. Stanley
This is not science fiction, but in fact it was published in Chemical and Engineering News, December 22, 1947.
So much of the current pandemic feels like we are trapped inside a science fiction novel or film.
The ludicrous way many humans have dealt with the virus outbreak including government officials, heads of state and general people in charge. The insanity that has ensued in some places like people throwing COVID parties and people panic buying. The extreme levels of isolation and complete denial. The way in which this virus outbreak has become political. The horror stories that have come out of Italy and New York (two epicenters of the disease during the last four months) wherein doctors had to make choices on who was given a ventilator due to the number of cases all coming in at the same time. And of course the number of deaths reported at times in different regions (again Italy and New York, but also Spain, France, Britain, Brazil and India) Overall the virus has infected 13. 3 million people and the death toll is over 575,000. These numbers alone make it sound like fiction, but in fact it is very real and continues to throttle our world in many ways.
From unemployment to economy to education we as a human existence have been damaged probably beyond repair. The economy could take years to recover as small and large businesses continue to fold (so far 110,000 small businesses have shut down) which directly affects the unemployment rate. The loss of quality education is going to have repercussions for all school age children.
Science fiction would say it's natures way of dealing with mass population.
Again George Stewart in Earth Abides,writes, "Some zoologists have even suggested a biological law: that the number of individuals in a species never remains constant, but always rises and falls—the higher the animal and the slower its breeding-rate, the longer its period of fluctuation [...] As for man, there is little reason to think that he can in the long run escape the fate of other creatures, and if there is a biological law of flux and reflux, his situation is now a highly perilous one....Biologically, man has for too long a time been rolling an uninterrupted run of sevens"
Even the bible (some might say it is a sort-of science fiction novel) agrees. In Ecclesiastes 1:4 — "Men go and come, but earth abides."
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