It's the End of the World : But What Are We Really Afraid Of? (9781783964758)
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The struggle to find meaning in our lives, the need to place ourselves at the centre of the story, is only natural. Our own life, our own experiences, are the only frames of reference that we have for existence. This is why the idea of the world carrying on beyond our deaths is so troubling, and why ultimately it’s impossible for us to imagine the end – ours or the world’s – through to its conclusion.
Our storytelling can only take us so far in making sense of our lives, because it is based in the idea of the lived experience. And since death is not lived through, by definition, it is not ‘experienced’ as another thing that happens day-to-day. We have no way to imagine ourselves as not existing. When we try and frame mortality and finality as a story, something in our mind rebels.
In reality what we envision is not really the end. As we’ve seen during the course of this book, humanity is forever creating loopholes, survivors, rebirths and trapdoors that enable us to skip away from the ultimate end of things and start anew. It’s almost as if the only way we can make sense of an ending is through new beginnings. We are trapped in linear time, but we also encounter time in cycles and recurrences: days, years, seasons. We watch the leaves fall from the trees in autumn, only to return again in spring. Life ebbs and flows.
If we cannot truly experience the moment of death, perhaps the end really is never. The universe, as we saw in Chapter 5, will most likely slowly decline into increasingly dark and chilly entropy, forever approaching and never quite reaching the parabolic flatness of ultimate end. Perhaps that is also how we will experience death – like a form of Zeno’s paradoxes, it is an end destination we can never truly arrive at. Of course it will ‘happen’, but not for us, not for our minds and consciousness. In the sense of lived experience, death will never arrive. Not only is ‘the end’ not nigh, it is impossible.
In September 1919, towards the end of the war to end all wars, Franz Kafka published a short story called ‘An Imperial Message’. It is a very short short story, barely a page long, although I think it is also one of the best things he ever wrote. As he was writing it, everything was falling apart in his world. He lived in Prague, one of the major cities of the soon-to-be-defeated Austro-Hungarian empire. The old emperor, Franz Joseph, had died late in 1916 at the age of eighty-six, having ruled since 1848. Towards the end of his reign, his citizens could no longer remember a time when he hadn’t been emperor and it began to seem that he would go on forever. But eventually he did die, and the Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled just two months after Kafka’s story was written. This is how ‘An Imperial Message’ begins:
The Emperor – they say – sent a message, dictated it from his death bed, sent it to you alone, his feeble subject, to that miniature shadow hiding at the remotest distance from the imperial sun. He instructed the messenger to kneel down beside his bed and whisper the message in his ear. It was important, he believed, to get the messenger to repeat it back to him. He confirmed the messenger’s accuracy by nodding his head.
And so the messenger heads off with his message. It is to us that it is directed, but before he can reach us, he must make his way from the emperor’s deathbed, through the crowd of people attending the imperial passing. Then he has to make his way out of the huge palace, passing through an interminable number of chambers and antechambers. If it had been a matter, Kafka says, of simply crossing an open field he would have made rapid progress, but as it is, things are hopeless:
He is still making his way through all the private rooms of the inner palace. He will never find a way through. And even if he did, it wouldn’t make any difference. He’d only have to struggle down the palace steps, and, even if he did that, it wouldn’t make any difference. He’d still have the courtyards to cross, and after the courtyards the second palace that encircles the first, and, again, down stairs and through courtyards, and then, yet again, another palace, and so on for millennia. But say he managed at last to burst through the outermost door – although such a thing could never, never happen – why then: the whole royal capital city, the centre of the world, is standing before him, heaped buildings and streets clogged with mud. No one forces his way through such a place, certainly not a man carrying a message from a dead man.
The message, clearly, will never reach us. This is the final line of Kafka’s story: ‘But nevertheless, you sit at your window as evening falls, and you dream the message to yourself.’ In its gorgeous, haunting obliqueness this has always seemed to me one of Kafka’s most accomplished short stories. The end of the story never quite reaches us; we are left to imagine it for ourselves.
Our fascination with the end is always a contradiction. We feel death gives life meaning, we know it is inevitable and we are drawn to the excitement the end promises; but at the same time we cannot accept or understand the reality of it. We especially don’t want anything to end in the chaotic, unresolved way the universe might impose upon us. And so we continue to imagine it, over and over, in our search for meaning, for a moment of transcendence; a way to transform its finality into an experience we can finally comprehend.
INDEX
28 Days Later film 62
666, number of the Beast 49–50, 52
2040 documentary 168–9
A
afterlife, imagining an 10–11
AIDS 101–3
Aldiss, Brian 63–4
alien intelligences and invaders 117–18, 119–24
alien plagues 87–8, 89
Allen, Woody 74
Alzheimer’s disease 76
Amis, Martin 102 ‘An Imperial Message’ (F. Kafka) 190–2
Andaman people 32
antibodies and immunity 81–2
The Antiquary (W. Scott) 6
apocalypse insurance 7–8
Apocalypse video game 9
Apollo 79–80
Armageddon film 125–6
asteroid/planet collisions 124–9
Australian bush fires (2019–20) 158
Australians, indigenous 82–3
avian flu 85
B
B612
Foundation 128
The Battle of Dorking (G. T. Chesney) 118–19
Battlestar Galactica TV series 115
Bayes, Thomas 18
Bayesian probability 17–22, 182
Bear, Greg 89
‘the Beast’ 42–4, 49–50
berserkers in science fiction 114
Biblical apocalypse 8–9, 15, 39–52
Big Bang theory 137–8
as infinitely repeated event 150–4
process reversal 143–4
Big Bounce 144, 150, 151–4
Big Crunch 144, 149–50
bioengineering 70
bioweapons 84, 86
Black Death 81, 92
Black Lives Matter movement 60–1
Black Sea 30–1
Blackwood’s Magazine 118
Blood Music film 89
bodily and mental decay 73–7
bodily decay, fear of 73–7
Bonaparte, Napoleon 52
Bong Joon Ho 164
‘The Book of the New Sun’ (G. Wolfe) 148
The Botanic Garden (E. Darwin) 146–7
Boyle, Danny 62
Brave New World (A. Huxley) 68–9
Buddhism 23, 154
Bunyan, John 12–13
burial practices 74–5
Byron, Lord 6, 93, 94, 98, 139–40, 146
C
Call of Duty video game series 175
Cameron, James 112
carbon footprints/emissions 162, 163, 165
see also climate change
Carpe Jugulum (T. Pratchett) 176
Chernobyl disaster 52–3
Chesterton, G. K. 4–6
Children of Men film 9
Chinese astronomy 33
Chinese one-child policy 159
Christian God see God, Christian
Christianity 8–9, 15, 23, 25, 33
chronos and kairos concept 187�
��8
Cioran, Emil 141
‘Cities in Flight’ novels (J. Blish) 148–9
climate change 27, 182
carbon emissions/carbon footprints 162, 163, 165
The Day After Tomorrow film 155–6
deniers 166–7
engineering control 163–4
Industrial Revolution 158
negative influence of video games 174–9
population growth 158–62
portrayal in fiction 155–6, 170–1
speed of human response 166–7, 171–3
stewardship 173–4
taking collective action 168–9, 173–4, 179
wildfire 157–8
cocoliztli epidemic 82
Cold War 108
The Colour Out of Space (H. P. Lovecraft) 87
comedy in zombie fiction 66–7
consumerism/capitalism and zombies 64–5, 67–9
Contagion film 80
Copernicus 22
Covid-19
global pandemic (2020) 2, 59, 85, 86, 100, 105–6
creation and uncreation of life 26–9
D
Danse Macabre woodcuts (H. Holbein) 92–3
dark energy 145
Dark Forest (Liu Cixin) 122–4
Dark Knight film 87
Dark Souls video game 177–8
‘Darkness’ (Byron) 139–40
Darwin, Erasmus 146–7
Dawn of the Dead film 9, 65
The Day After Tomorrow film 155–6
The Day the Earth Caught Fire film 125
death, human inability to imagine 9–11, 189
death of earth
Big Bang as infinitely repeated event 150–4
death of the Sun 134–7
entropy of the universe 138–42
eucatasrophe vs tragedy 145–8
influence beyond the Big Crunch 149–50
reversal of the Big Bang 143–4
science fiction genre 148–9
The Time Machine (H. G. Wells) 130–4, 142
Death’s End (Liu Cixin) 124
Decameron (Boccaccio) 92
Deep Impact film 126
dementia 76
Dernier Homme (J. de Grainville) 95
Deucalion 28–9
deus ex machina 164
disease see plagues
Divine Incantations Scripture, Taoist 33–4
Donne, John 4
Don’t Even Think About It (G. Marshall) 172
‘Doom Soon’ vs ‘Doom Delayed’ 20–2
Doomsday argument 17, 18–22
Doomsday Clock 182
Dr. Strangelove film 15, 108–11
Dracula Unbound film 63–4
dying earth see death of earth
Dying Earth (J. Vance) 148
E
Ea 32
earth, death of see death of earth
Ebola virus 85
Eddington, Arthur 135–6
Efthimiou, Costas 63
Egypt, Ancient 74–5
Einstein, Albert 135–6
Emmerich, Roland 120–1, 155–6
The End of the World (J. Leslie) 17
entropy of the universe 138–42
environmental change see climate change
Environmental Success Stories (F. M. Dunnivant) 179
Epic of Gilgamesh 32
‘Eternal Return’ concept, Nietzsche’s 151–3, 183
Ethelred, King 52
eucatastrophe vs tragedy 145
European settlers, disease spread by 81–3
evangelical Christians 25
extinction events, asteroid 127
F
Fail-Safe (E. Burdick and H. Wheeler) 108
Fail Safe film 108–9
falsification, scientific 143
The Female Man film 88
Firestorm (E. Struzik) 157–8 ‘The Flea’ (J. Donne) 100–1
Fleischer, Richard 159–60
floods 28–9, 30–2
four horsemen of the apocalypse 23, 41
Frankenstein (M. Shelley) 26, 27, 111
Freud, Sigmund 95–6
front end vs back end of time concepts 12–14
G
Gaiman, Neil 15, 39
‘Galactic Center’ novels (G. Benford) 114–15
Gameau, Damon 168–9
Garland, Alex 62
Gay Science (F. Nietzsche) 151
Get Out film 61
Gibson, William 171–2
The Girl with All the Gifts (M. R. Carey) 58
global warming see climate change
God, Christian 11, 24, 43–4
God, Hebrew 24, 29
gods’ inability to uncreate 27–9
Good Omens (T. Prachett and N. Gaiman) 15, 39
graphic novels 57
gravity 144–5
Great War 105
Greek mythology 27–9, 79–80
Greeks, Ancient 10, 79–80, 164
Greenberg, Stanley R. 160–1
Groundhog Day film 153–4
Guns, Germs, and Steel (J. Diamond) 81
H
Haitian slave plantations 59
Halperin, Victor 59
heat death, universal 138–42, 153–4, 183
heatwaves, killer 163
heaven, Christian 10
Hebrew Bible 10
Hebrew God see God, Hebrew
Hindu mythology 31–2
HIV 85, 101–3
Hobson, Henry 72
Holbein, Hans 92–3
Homer 10, 79–80
Hopi people 38
Horse River Fire, Canada 157–8
Huastec people 32
humour, apocalyptic 14–15
I
Iliad (Homer) 79–80
imperialism, Western 118
Independence Day film 9, 89, 120–1
India 32
Industrial Revolution 158–9
‘Inhibitors’ series (A. Reynolds) 115
insurance, apocalypse 7–8
invasion stories 118–24
Islam 24, 25
isopsephy 49–50
J
Jaffa, Rick 89–90
Jerusalem, Siege of 45–51
Jesus 11, 25, 33, 44–5, 47–8
Jewish messiah 33, 44, 47
Jones, Duane 61
Josephus 51
Judaism 33, 44–8, 51
K
Kant, Immanuel 176–7
Kermode, Frank 25–6, 186–7
Kirkman, Robert 57
Kubrick, Stanley 15, 108–11
L
The Last Man (M. Shelley) 93–5, 97
Leslie, John 17
Li Hong, Prince 34
Lif and Lifthrasir 37
Liu Cixin 121–4
Love and Death film 74
Lugosi, Bela 59
Lumet, Sidney 108
M
maculae/sunspots 134–5
Maggie film 72–3
Mahdi (end-times messiah) 25
Mahshar Al Qiy’amah 24
Make Room! Make Room! (H. Harrison) 159–60
Malthus, Thomas 158–9
Manu 31–2
Marshall, George 163, 172
Martin, John 39
Mass Effect video game 115
Maté, Rudolph 125
Matrix trilogy films 90–1, 115–17
Mayan calendar 3
Melancholia film 126
Mesoamerica 32
Mesopotamia 31, 32
messiah figures 25, 33, 44
see also Jesus
Meteor film 125–6
Micromégas (Voltaire) 117
The Migration (H. Marshall) 99
Mind at the End of its Tether (H. G. Wells) 183–4
Minecraft video game 174–5
Miscellaneous Discourses Concerning the Dissolution and Changes of the World (J. Ray) 134–5
Moore, Tony 57
mortality, human awareness of 4–6, 184–6
mort
ality, religion structuring 24
N
Native American people 82
Near East 31
Nero, Emperor 50
Newton, Michael 67
Nietzsche, Friedrich 151–3
The Night Eats the World film 72
The Night Land (W. H. Hodgson) 147–8
Night of the Living Dead film 56, 61
Noah 29, 31
Nolan, Christopher 87
Norse mythology 9, 34–8
nuclear reactors 26, 52–3
nuclear weapons/holocaust 15, 70, 107–11
O
Odin 34–5
Old Testament 29
Omen film trilogy 39
Outbreak film 80, 84
overpopulation, global 159–61
ozone levels 179
P
Palawan people 83
pandemic anxiety 84
‘Parasitology’ trilogy (M. Grant) 70
The Passage trilogy (J. Cronin) 58
Passover 46
Peloponnesian plague 85
pessimism, philosophical 141–2
Physics of Immortality (F. Tipler) 149–50
Pickens, Slim 109–10
Pitman, Walter 31
Plague Inc. video game 88
plagues 80–1
alien infections in fiction 87–8, 89
Ancient Greece 79–80
antibodies and immunity 81–2
assigning agency to 85–90
Black Death 81, 92
Covid-19 85, 86, 100, 105–6
disease spread by European settlers 81–3
freedom from civilisation 95–8
globalisation/interconnectedness 83–4, 86
gothic 19th century portrayal 93–5
human sociability 99–100, 105–6
humans as plague 90–2
humans deserving 89–92
and humans on the same side 89 ‘last man’ trope 93–9
light-hearted portrayal of 92–3
science fiction 87–90
and sex 100–3
Spanish Flu 103–5
zombies 62–3, 88
Planet of the Apes films 90
plastic pollution 27
Polidori, John William 93
Pompeii 50
Popper, Karl 143
population growth 158–9
Pralaya 31–2
Pratchett, Terry 15, 39, 176–7
Prince, Russ Alan 8