Elysium is a 2013 dystopian film staring Matt Damon. The story is set in 2154 when earth’s citizens live in poverty while the elite few wealthy live on Elysium, an orbiting space station just outside the earth’s atmosphere. Of course the rich live in luxury, including access to health care that can cure any disease or ailment. Everyone else left on earth try to scratch out a miserable existence. It’s a wonderful good vs. evil story with a satisfying ending but it shows some ugly truths to where we are headed.
The Warehouse written by Rob Hart was published in 2019. It’s a near future story of a company named Cloud that’s a stand-in for Amazon. It’s described as a “near-future thriller about what happens when Big Brother meets Big Business--and who will pay the ultimate price.” It’s rather chilling what desperate people will put up with and how dark and controlling large powerful corporations can be.
Corporate Gunslinger written by Doug Engstrom was published in 2020. It shows a dystopian future where corporate greed has sunk to a new level where the last resort is for people to settle their debts by agreeing to a duel with a professional gunslinger. The hero, Kira Clark, is in debt for her drama education and has to pay off a “lifetime services contract.” Her only way out is to train as a Corporate Gunslinger and fight amateurs who want out of their debts. She takes on the cold intimidating persona of “Death’s Angel.” The matches are televised and bet on. She’s transformed herself into the most feared gunslinger on the professional circuit, but after being wounded she fights another professional for a huge purse to so she can exit this life. The book paints a horrifying picture of America’s obsession with both corporate greed and gun violence.
Waste Tide written by Chen Qiufan and translated by Ken Liu was published in 2019. This book looks at a depressing combination of dumping the world’s electronics pollution in the poorest countries, corporate greed, desperation of the poor, and organized criminal gangs. Various forces vie for control including ecoterrorists, American investors searching for profits, criminal gangs, and the poor caught in the middle who are fighting to eke out a living and survive the horrible living conditions. It shows what people will do when they become desperate.
In some ways these fictional stories aren’t so very different from reality. During my own career I worked for several large global companies and it was amazing how they were both paternalistic and controlling, especially in other countries like the Dominican Republic, China, and Mexico. I saw health and safety issues in foreign plants that would never be allowed in the US. What’s a bit disturbing from this distance is that I worked for very good companies that attempted to do the right things. I can only imagine the companies that had few scruples.
Are we headed in the right direction or are the stories above harbingers of our future?
What would you do to survive if faced with some of these fictional circumstances?
How do we change direction and avoid these dystopian futures?
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