*A Perfect Day* sounds like it was influenced by Ayn Rand's *Anthem*, which was published in 1938. Anthem had a much better story and message.
I, for one, don't think that there will be such a thing -- I do not believe we are malleable enough to be molded into a human hive mind. It's a great way to extrapolate the left's aims but one should remember to aim at the real target. People are messy and unruly, the news severely downplays any "bad thing" that happens in a place where you do not live.
I’m sure it was heavily influenced by Rand’s “Anthem;” also, I have issues with Levin’s book, especially the ending. I like my dystopias to be pessimistic, and the ending didn’t seem to address how a global society could be rebuilt after it had been so micromanaged for so many centuries that its citizens had even been genetically engineered for compliance and conformity.
Anyway, I agree—I think a Posthistoric society is an impossible ambition. That doesn’t stop the true believers from trying, and they keep attempting to hammer the square peg of human nature into the round hole of their ideology…but I like to think they’re destined to fail.
Thanks! Yes, Seidenberg’s grim description of the posthistoric future fascinated me, and when I came across “This Perfect Day” I thought it captured—in an imperfect, fictional way—what such a world might look like. Let’s hope it never comes to that.
*A Perfect Day* sounds like it was influenced by Ayn Rand's *Anthem*, which was published in 1938. Anthem had a much better story and message.
I, for one, don't think that there will be such a thing -- I do not believe we are malleable enough to be molded into a human hive mind. It's a great way to extrapolate the left's aims but one should remember to aim at the real target. People are messy and unruly, the news severely downplays any "bad thing" that happens in a place where you do not live.
I’m sure it was heavily influenced by Rand’s “Anthem;” also, I have issues with Levin’s book, especially the ending. I like my dystopias to be pessimistic, and the ending didn’t seem to address how a global society could be rebuilt after it had been so micromanaged for so many centuries that its citizens had even been genetically engineered for compliance and conformity.
Anyway, I agree—I think a Posthistoric society is an impossible ambition. That doesn’t stop the true believers from trying, and they keep attempting to hammer the square peg of human nature into the round hole of their ideology…but I like to think they’re destined to fail.
BOOM Vault-Co Rating : 5/5 Stars
That was so good and the end of it was really poignant for people on Substack.
I read that very book by Seidenberg in 1991 but never realized how much it related to the world described by Ira Levinberg in his dystopian novel.
Thanks! Yes, Seidenberg’s grim description of the posthistoric future fascinated me, and when I came across “This Perfect Day” I thought it captured—in an imperfect, fictional way—what such a world might look like. Let’s hope it never comes to that.
Great stuff!