A Cosmic Voyage
Three days had passed since I narrowly escaped death in the most recent terrorist attack in Trinity City. This time the target was not a school or a government building, but few old support columns near the lower levels of the city. The terrorists managed to destroy the columns and cause an avalanche of building materials and innocent people. I was lucky to be just one block from the edge of the collapse zone. Had I been any closer, I might have been dead, just like all the others.
I must admit that I have found myself questioning my moral convictions. If one side were truly right, how could the wrong side be so sure of themselves that they would kill 17 million people just to make that point? Which is more important: the individual or the species? My race, the Xun has chosen that the longevity of the planet Xun and the Xuni race is of higher importance than the individual Xun.
I must admit that I have found myself questioning my moral convictions. If one side were truly right, how could the wrong side be so sure of themselves that they would kill 17 million people just to make that point? Which is more important: the individual or the species? My race, the Xun has chosen that the longevity of the planet Xun and the Xuni race is of higher importance than the individual Xun.
The terrorists want to go back to the old way of life, where every Xun has the freedom to live his or her life to satisfy a personal purpose. However, our computational democracy has determined freedom to be unsustainable due to population density. In order to enjoy the same liberties as citizens enjoyed during the ancient era of representative democracy would not be sustainable until planetary resources outnumbered population by a factor of 12. This means that the population would have to be reduced by 74% to accommodate this change in society.
Obviously, I didn't want the government to evaluate each Xuni life and choose a lucky 26% to live... No morally conscious Xuni would support genocide, let alone suicidal genocide. I reflected this opinion in all of the mandatory opinion polls since the terrorists started to gain real attention. Apparently, most of the Xuni people voted the same, because the government has decided on the continuation of the thousand year old strict population control policy that has already reduced the Xuni population from 78 Billion to 54 Billion.
Waste has all but been eliminated in our society. there is no wasted life, no wasted time, and no wasted resources. All irrelevancies in our civilization have been analyzed and eradicated. As a believer in the continued survival of my people, I can't help but feel committed to the government's successful policies.
However, the terrorists tell legends of what it was once like to live as a free individual -- how you could choose your own purpose and indulge in wasteful pleasures... I want desperately to live that life, but I don't want to kill innocent people just for the chance that it might happen!
This morning, I was thinking about the policy where in order for a newborn to be given an ID and released into the population, the father verify parenthood and submit to mandatory castration. I remember how I thought the policy was just so... so... Miedan.
This morning, I was thinking about the policy where in order for a newborn to be given an ID and released into the population, the father verify parenthood and submit to mandatory castration. I remember how I thought the policy was just so... so... Miedan.
I shouldn't even compare the practice to Miedan culture, because collectively the Xuni government is responsible for more castrations in the last year than in the last hundred years of Miedan history.
As a matter of fact, the more I thought about Miede, the more I realized how Miedan culture is the closest thing in this solar system to the legendary free Xuni society of the past. In Meide, there is no rampant overpopulation. There is instead a socialist democratic government, which is not as free as ancient Xun, but is still freer than any Xun could imagine. There was only one thing that worried me: the Miedan's strange sexual customs. Miede is a gender-divided society. The women manage and control most aspects of civilization as well as personal lives. Men are highly sexualized, and naturally take a submissive role in all aspects of society.
While I truly believe in my people, my history, and my government, I am beginning to feel as though I am living in fear and misery -- that the ideal free Xun and the ideal socialistic Xun are both tales of the past for my people. That the new, collective individuality that exists is not a place for me to find happiness and self-preservation.
Which is why, as of this morning, I have put in a request to forfeit my Xuni citizenship. As another population control measure, the government is allowing volunteers to leave the planet and be shipped to one of four co-operating neighbor planets.
I chose to be sent to Miede.
To Be Continued...
