Sometimes it is easier to address sensitive issues through fiction than dealing with them directly through direct discussion or non-fiction writing.  Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno, addresses two significant issues that are likely to meaningful at some time in our future. 

The most significant issue Brown addressed is the world's exponential population growth.  While population growth varies widely between nations and cultures, the overall global population of 7 billion continues to increase.  The UN estimates that the global population will reach 9 billion by 2040. Our planet will need more food, energy, fresh water and other resources to support about 30 percent more people within 25 years.  How does this get accomplished concurrently with an improvement in living standards for about 5 of the 7 billion existing people? 

In 1798 Thomas Malhtus was wrong when he famously predicted the continuing population growth would exhaust the world's food supply by the mid-19th century.  However, it is clear today that we are depleting many key resources around the world and our quest for resources is damaging our environment.  How do we provide for another 2 billion people and improve the lives of billions of others?  The question is not answered in a rational manner in Inferno.  However, Brown does us all a service of presenting the issue to us in an entertaining manner.  We are we going to do about it?  Do we let populations fight over resources to the death or do we find a way to limit our growth? 

The second issue addressed by Brown is Transhumanism.  The definition of Transhumanism in Wikipedia is "Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities."  I don't think I ever heard the word Transhumanism before reading Inferno.  I have done a small amount of research on Transhumanism and it appears to be a very advanced approach to thinking about big issues.  But as Brown pointed out in Inferno it is not clear that the advanced concepts and technology advanced by Transhumanists will be a net positive.  This is a topic worthy of further investigation. 

Inferno is a best seller and a great escapist read.  But there are some very interesting issues presented in the book.  We needs to think about what they mean to all of us. 

TPM

Why would I provide commentary on two completely different books in the same blog?  What do Republic, Lost - How Money Corrupts Congress - and a Plan to Stop It by Lawrence Lessig and For Us, The Living - A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein have in common?  I recieved Lessig's book as a gift and bought Heinlein's book because I read most of his work decades ago and was a big fan of his.  Lessig first published his non-fiction book in 2011.  Heinlein's book was written in 1939.  It was his first novel.  Heinlein couldn't sell it and it was never published during his lifetime.  For Us, The Living was first published in 2004, sixteen years after Heinlein's death.  What ties this two books together other than I read them one after the other?  A lot!

Lessig's book title is the topic of his book.  Lessig, a Harvard professor, explains in great detail how US campaign finance laws have corrupted our government making it almost impossible for our government to function in a rational manner.  He explains that there are too many corrupting influences created by the constant fund raising that all national politicians must do to stay in office.  Other commentators call our system crony capitalism.  Lessig calls it a form of corruption.  His terminology is reasonable in context of his argument.  Lessig explains how the system works in great detail.  Based on my personal experience I know that Lessig is fundamentally correct in his assessment.  While my personal experiences in this matter are a bit dated I believe strongly that this situation has only gotten worse in the past decade, not better.  Lessig presents some options for fixing the problem that may be achievable at some point.  But I believe that it will take a major economic downturn, greater than the 2008 financial collapse, to cause fundamental reform to occur.  Lessig spends some effort in discussing the roles of the major banks in overall governing problem.  He didn't focus enough on interrelationship of the major banks and the Federal Reserve.  There is no doubt in my mind that the US needs to return to a form of the Glass-Steagall Act and fully separate investment banking from commercial banking.  It would also help reduce the political power of the major banks.  Lessig admits he is very liberal.  I would call him a liberal progressive.  He and I probably wouldn't agree on many of the changes in the laws we would like to see Congress pass.  But he is fundamentally correct in his assessment of corruption in our government.  We are well past the time where major changes need to be made in the campaign finance laws. 

So what has Lessig's book got to do with Heinlein's first novel?  It is believed Heinlein wrote For Us, The Living in late 1938 and early 1939.  It was rejected by several major publishers and put on the shelf in 1939.  Heinlein was a liberal progressive activist and thinker as a young man.  His first book, while fiction, projects an entirely different US political and economic system will be in place in the year 2086 in order to correct the defects that existed in 1939, near the end of the Great Depression.  What is amazing is that Heinlein came to the same essential conclusions about what the future US government structure should look like as Lessig.  While Heinlein's book is a science fiction novel and his opinions are expressed in terms of the plot, it is fascinating to read his opinions about the future from his period of reference and compare them to what has happened in the intervening decades.  It is also interesting to find out that many of the concepts that he wrote about in 1939 would have fit in perfectly with the books he wrote in the 1970s and 1980s.  Heinlein also attacks the banking system that existed in his time and recommends fundamental changes to address unfairness in our society.  What is happening today in our government and society would have driven him crazy. 

I am not a liberal progressive like Lessig or Heinlein.  However, both of these men have accurately pointed out some fundamental flaws in our political and economic systems that must be addressed.  Reworking the banking system is a good first step.  Fixing crony capitalism and corruption of our political process must be high on the agenda.  Is there a way for the voters to force our government to fix these critical problems?  We need to find a way soon.

TPM