Science Fiction Novel with unexpected twists with action and questions to ask about the development of our society.
Homo homini lupus est ?
Introduction: Chronology of events
"The earth is doomed". Over centuries, this mantra known to all, had become reality. The steps leading to this critical stage had been long, painful, and numerous. By the end of the 20th century, a consensus had attributed the ecological disaster to industrialisation and the intensive use of coal and oil as energy sources. If we wanted to change the situation, we had to stop all industrial activity to reverse the curve merely twenty years later.
Fearing an exponential demography, some citizens of some developed countries wanted to forbid the Chinese access to the car or stop the local populations of South America from burning wood, and thereby prevent deforestation. Everyone became guilty, New Zealand, silent on the subject, was accused of being the most polluting country in the world because of its large cattle population. Governments had used dubious schemes to limit their populations: The appearance of pandemics, the promotion of famine and war, the inhibition of research against certain viruses... These measures, although radical, had worked superficially, but when a tree loses a branch, it does not stop growing. The race for economic growth, the competition between states, politicians desire for power and to be elected, had precipitated humanity unto the abyss.
The most optimistic predicted that global warming would lead to the melting of the ice at the poles, but that this was not a problem because before, the whole of Europe was covered with ice. It would bring vegetation, therefore potentially sources of oxygen, with new surfaces to grow on. Such people wouldn’t change their behaviour, because albeit global warming would certainly raise the water level and change the landscape, it’s necessary to adapt to change, and if some species disappeared, others would also appear. Nature always balances itself.
Though the Earth had evolved in this way until 2050, thereafter the situation had rapidly worsened. With a galloping birth rate and an ever longer life expectancy, humans were ending the century at almost eleven billion souls and were well capable of finishing off the Earth. Colonising new planets seemed to be the future of humanity, but in reality, if the first wave of inhabitants was made up of guinea pigs (essentially people looking for adventure or popularity participating in a reality TV show), the second wave was made up solely of a very wealthy elite who could finance the journey and this change of life.
To deal with this existential crisis, governments decided to implement a vast international birth control programme in the early 2090s: planting trees was no longer enough to absorb the excess carbon dioxide. Accompanied by the slogan: "Less humans, more resources for everyone", governments imposed on each woman a maximum of two children. This measure proved painful to implement because it implied lower economic growth, a problem of paying pensions and a loss of hard power for some countries. The recession thereby imposed was the consequence of 150 years of abuse of natural resources. Nevertheless, this initially well-intentioned program persecuted large families subject to the transition and mutilated those who had the misfortune to have several children at the same time.
It is in this tense context where ethics combated with freedom that Leo and Gally were born in 2095 in their apartment, two identical twins who filled their older sister Aya with joy. Illegal from birth, such was their burden. Unable to choose one, which meant eliminating the other, their parents, Tom and Lea, preferred to hide the probable twin pregnancy, given the genetic history of their families. This Cornelian dilemma was the Speldo family's best kept secret.
French version published in November 2020
