3 ms·

Released 50 years ago, “Soylent Green” is an eerie prophecy

27 points by Pamar 3y ago

Pamar 3y ago
Archived version: https://archive.is/eQaOX https://archive.is/eQaOX (it's quite short, actually)
archo 3y ago
"Soylent Green" Soylent Green : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green Soylent Green (1973) - IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/ Soylent Green - Rotten Tomatoes : https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soylent_green https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soylent_green
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sillywalk 3y ago
"Soylent Clear" (1995) (from Space Quest 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyYFDcUwDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyYFDcUwDI
WorldMaker 3y ago
I've had some interesting discussions on just how far back climate change concerns go back in sci-fi. There are famous works as far back to the 1950s from my reading. To be fair, you do have to discount and untangle many of the very wrong and worst parts (especially eugenics) of Malthusianism [1] the further back you go, but environmentalism and anthropogenic climate change (even if the models of the causes were sometimes very wrong) have long been concerns in sci-fi used to provide many, many warnings (of some stuff we see applicable today as more than just fiction, sadly). "Soylent Green" has its Malthusianism to discount as well ("Green" as a solution is eugenics and a warning of "Soylent Green" is one to beware of eugenics as a deeply suspect solution to anthropogenic climate change). (That's still sometimes a message people need to hear today. Eugenics is nearly an anti-solution, but plenty of people still raise the specter of it when climate change gets debated.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism
- dTal 3y ago
  Some interesting examples predating the 1950s: In the far-future world of The Machine Stops (1909), the Earth's surface is uninhabitable and respirators are required to even breathe outside. I don't think it's explained why, but it's hard not to connect it with The Machine, and the general apathy the population displays towards the natural world. The there's The Man Who Awoke (1933) which I have not read but from Wikipedia seems like a very clear cut example: "a man who awakes from suspended animation in various future eras and learns about the destruction to the Earth's climate, caused by overuse of fossil fuels, global warming, and deforestation. People of the future refer to 20th century humans as "the wasters"." I suspect the concept of anthropogenic climate change, accidental or deliberate, is probably about as old as sci-fi - the concerns would have become apparent as soon as the industrial revolution started visibly wrecking the environment.
  - archo 3y ago
    'Fritz Lang's Metropolis' Metropolis (1927 film) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film) Fritz Lang's Films - IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/list/ls006049088/ https://www.imdb.com/list/ls006049088/ Fritz Lang Filmography : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang_filmography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang_filmography
tibbydudeza 3y ago
In a fictional universe of Warhammer 40K there is something known as corpse-starch. Due to mutations of human genes all newborn babies are tested for deviancy from the norm and if they fail, they are "flushed" and their bio matter is repurposed as food for the teeming trillions. Add to that prisoners and discarded servitors (these are humans that are repurposed as sort of thinking computers/cyborgs as pure AI is forbidden) Nothing is wasted.
- archo 3y ago
  "A Modest Proposal" A Modest Proposal (1729) - Project Gutenberg : https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. by Dr. Jonathan Swift 1729 ---- Modest Proposal : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. The essay suggests that the impoverished Irish, might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards the poor, who were predominantly Irish Catholic (i.e., "Papists"), as well as British policy towards the Irish in general. In English writing, the phrase "a modest proposal" is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire.*
latexr 3y ago
https://archive.is/2023.08.22-070549/https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/02/02/released-50-years-ago-soylent-green-is-an-eerie-prophecy https://archive.is/2023.08.22-070549/https://www.economist.c...

27 points by Pamar 3y ago

Archived version: https://archive.is/eQaOX https://archive.is/eQaOX (it's quite short, actually)

"Soylent Green" Soylent Green : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green Soylent Green (1973) - IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/ Soylent Green - Rotten Tomatoes : https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soylent_green https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soylent_green

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

sillywalk 3y ago

"Soylent Clear" (1995) (from Space Quest 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyYFDcUwDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyYFDcUwDI

WorldMaker 3y ago

I've had some interesting discussions on just how far back climate change concerns go back in sci-fi. There are famous works as far back to the 1950s from my reading. To be fair, you do have to discount and untangle many of the very wrong and worst parts (especially eugenics) of Malthusianism [1] the further back you go, but environmentalism and anthropogenic climate change (even if the models of the causes were sometimes very wrong) have long been concerns in sci-fi used to provide many, many warnings (of some stuff we see applicable today as more than just fiction, sadly). "Soylent Green" has its Malthusianism to discount as well ("Green" as a solution is eugenics and a warning of "Soylent Green" is one to beware of eugenics as a deeply suspect solution to anthropogenic climate change). (That's still sometimes a message people need to hear today. Eugenics is nearly an anti-solution, but plenty of people still raise the specter of it when climate change gets debated.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism

dTal 3y ago
Some interesting examples predating the 1950s: In the far-future world of The Machine Stops (1909), the Earth's surface is uninhabitable and respirators are required to even breathe outside. I don't think it's explained why, but it's hard not to connect it with The Machine, and the general apathy the population displays towards the natural world. The there's The Man Who Awoke (1933) which I have not read but from Wikipedia seems like a very clear cut example: "a man who awakes from suspended animation in various future eras and learns about the destruction to the Earth's climate, caused by overuse of fossil fuels, global warming, and deforestation. People of the future refer to 20th century humans as "the wasters"." I suspect the concept of anthropogenic climate change, accidental or deliberate, is probably about as old as sci-fi - the concerns would have become apparent as soon as the industrial revolution started visibly wrecking the environment.
- archo 3y ago
  'Fritz Lang's Metropolis' Metropolis (1927 film) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film) Fritz Lang's Films - IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/list/ls006049088/ https://www.imdb.com/list/ls006049088/ Fritz Lang Filmography : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang_filmography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang_filmography

tibbydudeza 3y ago

In a fictional universe of Warhammer 40K there is something known as corpse-starch. Due to mutations of human genes all newborn babies are tested for deviancy from the norm and if they fail, they are "flushed" and their bio matter is repurposed as food for the teeming trillions. Add to that prisoners and discarded servitors (these are humans that are repurposed as sort of thinking computers/cyborgs as pure AI is forbidden) Nothing is wasted.

archo 3y ago
"A Modest Proposal" A Modest Proposal (1729) - Project Gutenberg : https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. by Dr. Jonathan Swift 1729 ---- Modest Proposal : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. The essay suggests that the impoverished Irish, might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards the poor, who were predominantly Irish Catholic (i.e., "Papists"), as well as British policy towards the Irish in general. In English writing, the phrase "a modest proposal" is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire.*

latexr 3y ago

https://archive.is/2023.08.22-070549/https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/02/02/released-50-years-ago-soylent-green-is-an-eerie-prophecy https://archive.is/2023.08.22-070549/https://www.economist.c...