Though science and its practice are powerful forces for good in our world, they are also capable of unleashing immense destruction . For as much as science has allowed us to cure diseases, create a worldwide community, and travel to the stars, it has bestowed us with biological, chemical and nuclear weapons with the capacity to destroy not only societies but our entire civilization. None of this is science's fault; it does not have agency. No, these Pandora's boxes are the result of human desire which has, and will probably always, outstrip human wisdom . For what one person creates, out of an altruistic desire to help, someone else selfishly shapes into a tool for their own gain, their own betterment, without thought for the costs to others. This is our curse, the inability to think of the collective good ahead of the individual . And it is this devastating Achilles' heel that Mr. Maggary has so thoughtfully demonstrated in his gripping work.
The year is 2019 and the world is about to change forever . As a result of a laboratory accident, humans have discovered a cure for aging. With three simple, if painful, shots, any human can be made immortal . The shots will not armor the human against disease, nor will they keep him alive after he's been flattened by an oncoming train. However, short of being stopped by disease or violence, he will live forever.
Understandably, this development spreads both fear and exhilaration like wildfire through the human community. Even though the Cure has been banned by the governments of most developed countries, it is widely available underground where everyone, from lawyers to party girls, pay a modest fee for a chance to see the end of time . But for as many who eagerly take the Cure, just as many reject it. After all, there are enormous implications to living forever. Is marriage an institution capable of withstanding bonds that last multiple lifetimes ? What about god ? Is it right to thwart his will? What happens to children ? How long should they be parented ? So many questions; so little time to find common answers to any of them before life is forever altered by a chance leap forward in scientific knowledge.
All of these toxic issues and more play out over the following 60 years as we follow John Farrell through his postmortal life. From his early days as an innocent, a divorce lawyer living a happy, Cured, existence in New York, to his latter nights as a cynical population-control specialist for the US government, we watch his life and his belief in the Cure crumble in the face of societal deterioration brought about by the Cure. Without the check of death to keep the population in control, humanity replicates faster than ever, consuming the Earth in a fight for resources that will soon be depleted . What will be left when all is said and done ? And will John Farrell recognize it? Only his diary contains such answers.
The Postmortal is brilliant science fiction, showing off the best the genre has to offer. In posing a simple question -- what would happen to human civilization if, tomorrow, we were all immortal --, it invents a plausible, if unlikely, future and then extrapolates from that imagined future all the myriad ramifications of an earth-shattering, civilization-altering development . Here is where Mr. Magary shines. For not only has he posed a fascinating question, he has insightfully imagined at least a dozen nightmarish, unintended consequences resulting from it. If the question itself is the story's backbone, its imaginings flesh it out. From mothers giving the Cure to their toddlers, in order to forever preserve their mutual dependence, to permanent soldiers serving endless tours of duty, the author keenly and convincingly presents us a world which, in not thinking through the consequences of a scientific leap forward, is tormented by its fallout. Masterful...
This is riveting work. No, Mr. Magary won't win any awards for his prose; nor does his tale throw up more than one noteworthy surprise . But this is secondary to the great extent to which he has asked and answered an engrossing question which is more than can be said of most fiction, mindless or otherwise. The pages absolutely fly by. (5/5 Stars)
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