Sunday 28 May 2023

Living In The City

"Fortune Hunter."

Jo is reluctant to visit the narrator in the city. He assures her that:

his apartment is a reasonable size;

it is soundproofed;

the air is filtered and conditioned;

the conurb is both screened and policed;

armoured vehicles can accompany them when they go out;

in his city at least, dust, monoxide and carcinogens are down to a level where a mask need not be worn over nose or mouth.

She still thinks that the smells and tastes would be unacceptable.

The author hopes that this story is a warning, not a prediction.

4 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

There are restaurants in Beijing where special filtered and oxygenated rooms are offered. Cheaper ones offer masks. I'm not kidding.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

IOW, the conditions of life in China is becoming a lot like what we see in "Fortune Hunter."

And you can bet the big shots of the Chinese Communist Party and well connected hangers on are monopolizing the best places to live!

Ad astra! Sean

Jim Baerg said...

Here
https://www.decouplemedia.org/podcast
or here
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKlj_Qf3f6Op0vexKMK7Qw/videos
is a podcast run by Chris Keefer an MD in Toronto who also advocates for nuclear power. Every so often he notes how much the air quality in Toronto improved, when refurbishing & restarting a bunch of CANDU nuclear reactors allowed all the coal fired power plants in Ontario to be shut down

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Jim!

Good! We need lots more people like Dr. Keefer.

Instead of "shutting down," I would like to think of nuclear power as a better, more efficient form of technology replacing coal fired plants.

Now comes the hard part, defeating the anti-nuclear Luddites!

Ad astra! Sean