''The World Inside'' is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel by American writer
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand ...
, published in 1971. The novel originally appeared as a series of shorter works in 1970 and 1971, all but one published in
''Galaxy'', including the
Hugo
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...
nominated novella "The World Outside". ''The World Inside'' was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1972,
although Silverberg declined the nomination.
On March 2, 2010,
Orb Books published this title as a trade paperback edition.
Plot introduction
The novel is set on
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in the year 2381, when the population of the planet has reached 75 billion people.
Population growth has skyrocketed due to a quasi-religious belief in human reproduction as the highest possible good. Most of the action occurs in a massive three-kilometer-high city tower called ''Urban Monad 116''.
Plot summary
War, starvation, crime and birth control have been eliminated. Life is now totally fulfilled and sustained within Urban Monads (Urbmons), mammoth thousand-floor skyscrapers arranged in "constellations", where the shadow of one building does not fall upon another. An Urbmon is divided into 25 self-contained "cities" of 40 floors each, in ascending order of status, with administrators occupying the highest level. Each building can hold approximately 800,000 people, with excess population totalling three billion a year transferred to new Urbmons, which are continually under construction.
The Urbmon population is supported by the conversion of all of the Earth's habitable land area not taken up by Urbmons to agriculture. The theoretical limit of the population supported by this arrangement is estimated to be 200 billion. The farmers live a very different lifestyle, with strict birth control. Farmers trade their produce for technology and the two societies rarely have direct contact; even their languages are mutually unintelligible.
The Urbmons are a world of total sexual license where men are expected to engage in "night walking"; it is considered very rude to refuse an invitation for sex. In this world it is a blessing to have children: most people are married at 12 and parents at 14. Just thinking of controlling families is considered a faux pas. Privacy has been dispensed with due to the limited area. Because the need to be outdoors and to travel has been eliminated, thoughts of
wanderlust
Wanderlust is a strong desire to wander or travel and explore the world.
Etymology
The first documented use of the term in English occurred in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering ...
are considered perverse.
The dwellers of the Urban Monad share scant resources and believe that sharing of everything is required in order for people to peacefully co-exist in close quarters. The sharing extends to wives and husbands, a sentiment likely springing from the
free love
Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...
movement of the mid-to-late Twentieth century.
Although great effort is spent to maintain a stable society, the Urban Monad lifestyle causes mental illness in a small percentage of people, and this fate befalls two of the book's main characters. "Moral engineers" reprogram those who are approaching an unacceptable level of behavior.
Given the extremes of life in the Urban Monads, law enforcement and the concept of
justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
employ a
zero tolerance
A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...
policy. There are usually no trials, and punishment is swift; anyone who threatens the stability of the Urbmon society (a "flippo") is "erased" by being thrown into a shaft that terminates in the building's power generator. This gives one of the book's characters the idea that humanity has been
selectively bred
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...
for life within the Urbmons.
Characters
* Jason Quevedo, historian, scholar who researches the society archives to recreate previous eras
*Siegmund Kluver, specialized in theory of urban administration, consultant to the administration of the building
See also
* ''
Make Room! Make Room!
''Make Room! Make Room!'' is a 1966 science fiction novel written by Harry Harrison (writer), Harry Harrison exploring the consequences of both unchecked population growth on society and the hoarding of resources by a wealthy minority.
It was ori ...
''
* ''
Stand on Zanzibar
''Stand on Zanzibar'' is a dystopian New Wave science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1968. The book won a Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention in 1969, as well as the 1969 BSFA Awa ...
''
* "
Billennium"
References
External links
*
''The World Inside''at Worlds Without End
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Inside, The
1971 American novels
American science fiction novels
Doubleday (publisher) books
Dystopian novels
Fiction set in the 24th century
Novels by Robert Silverberg
Overpopulation fiction