SOYLENT GREEN OR COVID-19?
A short story for Friday
Set in 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, pollution, and a climate catastrophe, have plunged the world into crisis, and only the elites can afford to live apart, enjoying clean drinking water and natural food.
One company, Soylent Industries, controls the production of food for the masses. Its newest product, Soylent Green, is more nutritious and flavourful, but it’s in short supply.
The masses form riot gangs to steal it, and they are systematically herded by the Police and taken away.
The marketing gloss tells how Soylent Industries harvests the world’s plankton and turns it into a sustainable protein source for everyone.
Except, there’s a problem. An undercover reporting team has discovered the world’s oceans are dead and have not produced plankton for over a decade.
A lone reporter discovers the truth. The alternative protein source of Soylent Green isn’t made from plankton but from people.
Humans scooped up and herded by Police and the old, who are encouraged to die via voluntary euthanasia, are liquidised and manufactured into Soylent Green.
Set in 2020, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, climate change, and a new respiratory virus, COVID-19, has the world teetering on the brink of catastrophe, and only the elite can afford to live apart from the masses, safe from infection.
Governments around the world, working with their central banks, attempt to solve the COVID-19 problem by increasing the production of its product, fiat currency, but despite massive overproduction, the new money is in short supply.
The masses form riot gangs to protest against the fear of infection, and they are systematically herded by the Police and taken away.
The marketing gloss tells how governments control the supply of money using interest rates and manage the distribution of funds throughout society, making it available to everyone.
Except, there’s a problem. An undercover reporting team has discovered that the world’s governments are bankrupt, and have been that way for over a decade.
A lone reporter discovers the truth. The source of government fiat money payouts back into society to help protect them from COVID-19 isn’t from income tax, but from the death tax imposed on their citizens, and the systematic removal of long term pension and healthcare obligations.
With 60% of the population needed to generate societal immunity from COVID-19, sections of humanity, the over 60s, are sacrificed, their assets liquidised and manufactured into money to bail out the most productive members of society.
For the under 60, COVID-19 is like Soylent Green.
