04 Feb 2010, Posted by Matthew Reinbold in Die Bucher (the books), 1 Comments
die Bücher (the books) – Suarez’s Freedom
Freedom is the released sequel to Daniel Suarez’s Daemon (which I recently also reviewed). Given how much I enjoyed the author’s debut novel the expectations were tremendously high. After an automated software task co-opts much of the world’s wealth and information infrastructure, how much more could there be to say?
Despite the fact I devoured this book in less than 24 hours, there’s Yippee-ki-yay mother planting plenty more.
The book begins immediately after the events of the predecessor. Those who have willingly become a part of the Daemon’s systems are organizing in ever-increasingly complex and self-reliant ways. These self-contained communities, called holons, represent an attempt at societies “devoid of bullshit”. As a character explains early in the book:
“Holons are the geographic structure of the darknet. Any dark net community lies at the center of an economic radius of one hundred miles for its key inputs and outputs – food, energy, health care, and building materials. Balancing inputs and outputs within that circle is the goal. A local economy that’s as self-sufficient as possible while still being part of the cultural whole – a holon – thus creating a resilient civilization that has no central points of failure. And which through its very structure promotes democracy.”
This is the kind of story that could only be told in an age like ours. It is a rebuttal to industrial era businesses’ end game: one that demands 10,000 mile supply chains, just-in-time manufacturing, a lowest wage globalized workforce, relentless upselling, dehumanizing bureaucracy, wars to ensure energy production and delivery, control of political will, and more.
Suarez’s holons are in rural America. He wisely realized that it would be these small, self-reliant communities that would be most receptive to the Daemon’s message. Just two weeks ago I called home after hearing that many in Timber Lake, SD (population ~400), had been without power for at least 5 days. A cold front had descended and continually coated power lines until the weight became too much to bare. Once one pole fell, the rest followed. Within a 24 hour period more than 6000 downed poles cut electricity for a nearly 2000 square mile region. Yet my parents were watching the Vikings play in the NFC championship game, generator keeping the necessities (like football) on. The heat is largely provided by a corn stove – fuel that is just a walk to the grain bin away. Canned goods were in the basement. Beef was in the chest freezer. There was no problem waiting to be reconnected to the larger world’s status quo. What would be a riotous disaster in a major metropolitan area was a minor inconvenience here.
Self-reliance is a way of life for these people; survival depends on it. When Suarez begins the book’s “Corn Rebellion” he’s not enacting a self-serving plot device but channeling the sensibilities of life and decency forgotten in an executive-boardroom run world.
“You know, I worry about you. You and your brother. I know it hasn’t been easy. I… there’s no real jobs anymore. I feel like I’ve let you down.” Fossen started to tear up.
She hugged him tightly. “Dad, you didn’t let me down.” She looked back up at him. “You taught me everything I need to know: self-reliance, self-respect, community. Just don’t be surprised if actually put it to use.”
Suarez’s book isn’t just a fantastic work of science fiction. If we truly want security, if truly want a sustainable way of living, if we truly want something better than corporate serfdom and a pile of debt while we self-medicate with video games and social media, we have to relearn the lessons that were lost on the road to industrialization. Freedom hints at just such a way.