As I like to say, this is the end friend. As a quick synopsis we have D-503 as the main character and builder of the Invictus a rocket ship to move people to other planets as the savior of humanity via sponsorship of United State. He meets I-330 who effectively tries to recruit him to sabotage the Invictus by seducing him. Ultimately, D-503 fails to prevent the launch of the Invictus and I-330 is caught to be executed. As well, D-503 gives up his imagination because he feels as though he cannot control his thoughts between his internal conflict and his infatuation with I-330 which is illegal.

So, not a very happy story. Going in, I really didn’t know what to expect. I certainly echo the criticism that I think 1984 is a highly similar story. Given that Orwell wrote 1984 shortly after he read We, I can not in good conscious say that it wasn’t a direct rip off. That being said, I found 1984 easier to read and more relatable. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

As to the broader concepts of the book, I think that is what we should focus on. Does humanity require free will to thrive? Of course, I think the answer is yes. But it really does boil down to a philosophical argument. For instance, can we say that any other animal species is not thriving despite not having an imagination?

Maybe what we can say is that for a species to live up to it’s potential it needs as much free will as biologically possible. You can say that all critters have free will of sorts but they do not have a conscious to evaluate and learn from those decisions after they have happened. If that is our premise, then we can certainly say that humanity is at risk in We.

The greatest danger is not to have free will but to assume you have free will that has been programmed or manipulated without cognition. There is a saying that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. This saying is to validate that there is always some good with the bad. I think most people assume that this is the worse case scenario. Actually, what is worse than a stopped clock is a clock that is 15 minutes off. Because if you believe that this is the right time, you are going to be wrong every time. A stopped clock would be right more often than a clock that is off.

I think that the other major theme is that you cannot beat the system. That is definitely something I can identify with. Why do you think that we try so hard to stop it before it becomes what it is? Once in place, it is nearly impossible to change it as individuals. Pick your pet issue, did heath care get repealed when Republicans were completely in charge? No, of course not.

Merging the two themes together, lets take one other look at things. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Everybody has heard and remembers this statement. But what about this one? “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

If we subscribe to our very own tenants, then what do we have to say about something like the Patriot Act? We have been convinced that it is necessary for our safety to give up privacy and have virtually obliterated the fourth and fifth amendments. Yes a warrant is required to tap our land line phones (Olhmstead v. United States) but we have accepted that all other electronic communication is monitored and saved. Nobody is even talking about repealing such anti-American spirit law. I wont even go into the moral paradox of waterboarding being legal based on the fact that the Constitution does not apply to non-US citizens.

I liked the book. I think that it is the right order to read We after 1984. I suspect that I need to read it again to get the subtlety of some of the concepts. I did have difficulty sometimes bridging the gaps between what was written and what was the meaning. Like much science fiction, the story is not always congruent and leaves gaps that the reader has to speculate on how or what one event leads to another. I say this because I think 1984 conveys the same concepts in a much easier way to interpret as well as a host of a whole lot more concepts.

End Your Programming Routine: We have a new book next week. It will be a familiar author with a new book. Given Zamyatin’s station in life, exiled from his home country, I suspect that this book was driven by his observation of this situation more so than some sort of freedom savant. Given the gift of time, I think that it was Orwell who codified Zamyatin’s observation into the theory of tyranny. Both are going to be on the AltF4 reading list.