We have a flag and a cat and we know how to use them. We are digging a hole to the moon.

— Jeffrey Rowland
Chapter 11, Page 21

Chapter 11, Page 21

Ah, this is one of those occasions where I wish I could give more than one page at a time so you can read how Fumiaki is going to finish that thought.  Maybe you can guess.  Meanwhile enjoy Michael’s glorious depiction of a deranged mind.

↓ Transcript
Fumiaki: The human race. It's a paradox. The most adaptable species ever. So resilient, they crave suffering to test their ability. Catastrophe makes them stronger. The invention of warfare brought metallurgy. The crusades proliferated mathematics. The cold war spawned the internet. The plague wars created the Guayaquil upgrade. Paradox. Paradox. There's only one way to help them...and it's a paradox. If you have gifts to give them...if you want to see them thrive...if you truly, deeply, love human beings...

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Discussion (17)¬

  1. Sonja says:

    I think I can guess it! And I don’t like where this is headed…

  2. John Courage says:

    Can’t wait till Monday

  3. NJB says:

    Is it a sign that I am deranged if I find myself agreeing with Fumiaki here? We’ll, with the addendum of: “until humans conveniently forget that tragedy only to remember once the next one appears”
    You could reduce the world’s homo sapiens population down to 50 per nation and watch them thrive and cooperate to rebuild, only for subsequent generations to slowly forget, divide and eventually fight over some petty thing or other.

  4. Xel Unknown says:

    WOW THIS IS INSANE IN HOW IT MAKES SENSE HUMANS WE ARE A PARADOX!

  5. Ming the Merciless says:

    The Toba eruption 75,000 years ago wiped out 98% of humanity with it’s six years winter…one would wonder how advanced humanity was before this setback?

  6. Matt40000 says:

    Well this looks bad.

    He’s not wrong though. Hell, the black death was one of the biggest causes of the end of feudalism

  7. Remus Shepherd says:

    Dr. Fumiaki might not be wrong about his base facts — humanity does get stronger when confronted with catastrophe. The derangement comes in when you follow the logic he’s using to get to his conclusions. 🙂

  8. NJB: There’s a *very* good chance we would go extinct with only 10000-ish humans scattered about the globe.

  9. aqua says:

    “. . . you must hurt them as deeply as you can”

    quick every one chose your own finisher

  10. aqua says:

    kinda makes us sound like Saians on a racial level instead of an individual level

  11. ArKain says:

    Annnnd we’re back to the opening page of this chapter.

  12. SpectralTime says:

    I never really drank the kool-aid on the “conflict=progress” bandwagon. But all I can say is, if he rhymes “thrive” with “die,” I will be the *grumpiest* fellow there ever was.

  13. NJB says:

    Tim: You have a very good point there. Let’s say for arguments sake that they still had access to the communications and transport systems that are either human independent or usable with minimaldifficulty. It’s not unfeasible that sustainable pockets of humanity. I admit that my post was rather threadbare, sorry.

  14. Remus Shepherd says:

    Well, I don’t want to make you grumpy, SpectralTime, but Dr. Fumiaki is *not* the good guy in this story. 🙂

  15. Mark Linimon says:

    Bad things happening in 3 … 2 … 1 …

  16. Elihias says:

    Pandora’s … Suitcase?
    Oh dear, I fear the worst…

    Hawaiian shirts,Mexican sombrero’s, and sticks of rock with ‘Blackpool’ written in them.

    Eli.

  17. Glen says:

    Why does this remind me of the phrase…

    “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”