The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch is a complex novel that investigates topics like time travel and the end of the world. The novel follows Shannon Moss, an agent working for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who travels to possible versions of the future to solve crimes. Moss gets wrapped up in an effort to prevent the Terminus, or the end of humanity, which has been brought on by time travel and keeps advancing closer to the present. The Terminus is presented as an inevitable event, one that stems largely from the Naval Space Command (NSC) and the government’s desire to find the planet Esperance, where they think they will discover the secret to immortality through experimentation with quantum-tunneling nanoparticles (QTNs). Ultimately, Moss enters a time knot in which the crew of the Libra, who originally discovered Esperance and brought the Terminus with them, continually experience a mutiny among their members. In order to avoid the Terminus that has arrived in her present, Moss works to create a black hole that will reset terra firma.
Although time travel is not a reality in the real world, the themes that Sweterlitsch addresses, like the end of the world, are more applicable that one might think. In recent years, issues like the climate crisis have brought worries about the end of humanity to the forefront of people’s minds. Science Focus states that the end of humanity is inevitable. It is not a matter of “if” human extinction will occur, but rather “when,” thanks to issues like overpopulation, environmental destruction, and climate change. However, rather than a cataclysmic end to all life on Earth and the world going up in flames, the article suggests that nonhuman life will persist, and the Earth will survive and thrive without humans. An article by The New Yorker outlines the thoughts of Toby Ord, a philosopher at Oxford University. Ord discusses the existential threats to humanity that exist and what could happen if they are not addressed. He states that humanity is currently on the precipice of extinction and has only two options – to either partake in a shared global effort to ensure humanity’s continued survival or to become extinct. Rather than natural risks like asteroids or super-volcanic eruptions, Ord believes that the most serious threats to human life are man-made, such as nuclear war, climate change, and pandemics. For the most part, he and other philosophers agree that it is the actions of human beings and our unsustainable ways of life that will lead to our destruction. Most recently, the coronavirus pandemic is an example of a large-scale threat that the actions of human beings have perpetuated. Forbes states that, while the COVID-19 pandemic is not the end of humanity, it has brought humanity to its knees. The article describes how the pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in people. A majority of people have worked to protect those around them, and yet the coronavirus has spread like wildfire throughout the U.S. because of individuals who see themselves as being at little risk of illness and refuse to acknowledge that their actions – like not wearing a mask or not physically distancing themselves from other people – have consequences on the health of others. Surprisingly enough, fact and fiction appear to work in dialogue with each other in commenting on the real-life possibility of the end of humanity. In Sweterlitsch’s novel, it is the actions of human beings and their self-serving interests that bring the Terminus to the present. The greed of the NSC and the government in seeking out Esperance and chasing after immortality at the expense of the end of humanity is reminiscent of the lack of concern that real-life governments show by taking little action to slow down or reverse the climate crisis and ensure a sustainable future for the generations to come. In the novel, Sweterlitsch does not propose a definitive solution to real-world problems, but the underlying message of the novel suggests that the actions that humans take can make a difference. Just as our actions can bring about the end of humanity, they also have the opportunity to postpone the crisis. Ultimately, one of the questions that the novel leaves me with is, how do we realistically postpone the end of humanity at this point? Is it too late to make a difference and divert the course of events? And lastly, would the Earth actually be better off without humanity's interference?
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AuthorHi, I'm Rhi! In these blog posts, I will be exploring and reflecting on common themes found in post-apocalyptic literature. Archives
April 2021
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