By: John Silva March 2015
“Arlene, my name is Fred. I’m leading up a team to document how all this happened. HQ thought it would be good to leave a record. Have you got time for a cup of coffee and to answer some questions?”
Reluctantly, Arlene agrees: “Sure, Fred. It will be nice to finally meet you. Coffee sounds good, and I’m ready for a break. I just put on a fresh pot. Do you take cream and/or sugar?”
“Black is good.”
“I’ve heard about your project. I don’t see the point, but I’m glad to help in any way I can.” “Where should we begin?”
Like most androids, Fred remarked in his matter-of-fact and mechanically measured way. “We haven’t been able to establish an exact timeline because the various factors were all evolving at different rates and at different times. The first signs of real trouble started showing up in the middle of the twenty-second century. At the time, we didn’t realize what was happening. But, later…it was all too clear. Ironically, our own intellect was a big factor.
The advances in medicine were unbelievable. Diseases that had plagued the human race for millennia were being eliminated every other year or two. Life expectancy doubled, and then it tripled. Cancer, stroke, ALS, Alzheimer’s, heart attacks, MS…they were all gone. We were very proud of ourselves and our accomplishments.
Medical knowledge wasn’t the only area that was expanding. Space travel was becoming more common, and we had been to Mars several times and our next manned mission to Saturn had already been scheduled. We were on a roll.
Our knowledge of particle physics had exploded, and we could manipulate and create matter like it was silly putty. Many of the questions regarding the human genome had been answered and many of its mysteries had been unraveled. There was a pervasive feeling of optimism, and there was a cockiness in how we viewed ourselves and our accomplishments.
Then quite unexpectedly, a small tear appeared in the social fabric. Population growth, which had been a problem, had now become a serious concern. People wanted to live forever which was fine, but they were having too many babies…way too many babies. Women were having babies well into their eighties and nineties. It became apparent that this kind of longevity wasn’t sustainable with the current food supply.
A massive effort began to generate higher yields of produce and livestock. If people could live longer, why not pigs and cows? Genetics and DNA became a major area of study.
Another significant area of study was how to eradicate the pests that were eating our vegetables and grains. Caterpillars, for example, were constantly mutating and keeping one step ahead of our efforts to eradicate them.
In order to limit the amount of pesticides being used, we created machines that could identify which insects were needed and which ones had to be eliminated. The machines were called hunters, and the AI in their computers enabled them to comb the fields, eradicating any life form they found that could jeopardize the crop yield. Hunters sprayed a fine mist directly on the harmful bugs using only enough poison to kill it with no overspray thereby preventing the pollution of the surrounding soil and water supply. To further reduce costs and eliminate runoff, fertilizer wasn’t spread on the soil. Instead, shooter units had been designed to inject the fertilizer directly into each plant.
When it became apparent that this wasn’t enough, we pulled out all of the stops. War was declared. It was us or them, and The Caterpillar Wars began. Victory, however, was not certain. The larva proved to be a difficult adversary. Scientists concentrated all of their energies on additional ways to destroy them. Bergstrom, at the CM lab, was hot on their trail. He had perfected an early twenty-first-century technique by using a much more virulent virus that targeted the insects and made them sterile. As the food crisis became more critical, it was decided that the virus would be released in massive quantities. It was a huge success. We had won the war!
Also, the population stabilized. Maybe it was the close call that had been narrowly avoided that caused the people to finally come to their senses and stop having so many babies. For the first time, there was finally enough food to feed everyone. The crisis had been averted.
And, then another tiny tear appeared in the social fabric. The population was shrinking which at first seemed like a good thing. However, when the number of births became dangerously low, the alarms went off again.
Arlene, when did your team first notice this problem?
By the middle of the twenty-third century, we knew we were in serious trouble.
I see…regarding our present situation, how bad is it?
Fred, we have passed the point of no return. Humans can no longer replicate due to the interaction with the virus. There hasn’t been a single birth this year. And, when the current population dies off… that will be it. Our species will be extinct. Its kind of ironic because until we become extinct, we will all be in perfect health. It is still unclear as to when the virus crossed over.