|
A classic example of science fiction disease epidemiology.
According to Earth Abides (1949) by George R. Stewart
(1895-1980) a disease comes out of nowhere, kills off all of
the Earth's population save for a handful of survivors including,
unfortunately, our hero, who is one of the most feckless characters ever to
grace the pages of fantasy. Instead of rebuilding society or
even setting up a halfway successful community, the tiny band of
survivors get caught up in a collective fit of ennui and mope about
for a generation or so while the cities collapse into the ground and
their grandchildren end up on the cultural level of Cro-Magnons.
Things get so bad that the inheritors of our civilisation regard coins
as being nothing but handy metal for making arrowheads out of.
Can't say I have much sympathy. Evidently nobody even had the
foresight to lift a few boxes of hunting arrowheads (never mind some
black powder gear!) from the shops after the apocalypse. |
