• 2 years ago
https://freedomain.com/freedomain_books/the-future/

Centuries in the future, an old man awakes from cryogenic sleep to face the judgement of a utopian society that barely survived his past abuses of power. In the vein of 'Atlas Shrugged, philosophy, philosopher Stefan Molyneux has created a compelling and powerful work of imagination. He vividly describes the wonderful future that mankind can achieve - and the barriers to getting there - and all that we need to leave behind to finally live in peace...

Transcript
00:00 The Future by Stéphane Molyneux
00:02 Chapter 46
00:05 I have lived with mental muttering my whole life.
00:12 I shafted everything.
00:15 From the very beginning,
00:17 I was probably a tumbleweed of spikes in my mother's porcupine womb.
00:25 I was sent from the city at dawn out into the wasteland.
00:30 I almost imagined that they would provide a damn pillowcase full of cookies.
00:35 But they were generous enough to give me a backpack full of rations, a walking stick and a flask of water,
00:42 and a map.
00:45 Paper, if you could believe it.
00:48 They did something miraculous to my joints and muscles.
00:54 The slow, claustrophobic aching of old age was gone,
00:58 completely.
01:00 And my knees felt as springy as a trampoline.
01:02 And my back...
01:05 Well, I didn't even notice it for the first time in...
01:08 I don't know how long.
01:11 Literally, I actually don't know how long. No one actually told me in any great detail how long I was frozen.
01:17 500 years is too rough an estimate, too convenient a number.
01:21 I
01:23 refused to look back at the shining slender spires of the city behind me.
01:31 I'd spent the last few days scouring digital resources on how best to survive in the wild.
01:37 I couldn't buy a damn thing, but Cornelius was able to get me a few resources, some matches and wires for traps.
01:48 He only did me this kindness in order to try and talk me out of my decision.
01:52 I told him it was better to rule in hell than serve in heaven, and I would literally be damned if I would take...
02:01 If I would let Peters control me through ridiculous judgments.
02:08 I was not allowed to see my son,
02:17 unless it was to testify against him in his upcoming trial, but I didn't really care.
02:21 He had brought my worst nightmare to life.
02:27 Accused me, humiliated me in front of the whole world for all time.
02:33 The mixture of contempt, horror and pity in people's eyes.
02:42 Well, that was my weapon, not to be handed out to strangers against the well-being of the family.
02:47 Break those bonds, they stay broken.
02:52 And the idea that I would go and lecture foreigners about
03:01 peaceful parenting.
03:04 You might as well demand that I go and instruct their military leaders on Huggy Wars.
03:11 I would spend the rest of my days trying to lecture my resurrected father on seaside peace?
03:16 No, thank you, not at all.
03:19 I'm glad to be back. I'm glad to be alive.
03:31 The vitality I feel, the
03:36 adventurous ahead, and the blessed absence.
03:41 of others.
03:43 All fills my heart with shiny sing-song joy.
03:48 I know I'm repeating myself,
03:57 but I never liked people.
04:01 I had affection for their
04:04 utility, you know, I suppose a farmer has some affection for his livestock,
04:09 but their constant neediness and lying
04:13 repulsed me.
04:16 Ahead,
04:20 there is only wilderness and animals and a star-pierced night sky.
04:28 And
04:30 others, perhaps, like me.
04:32 People who don't need
04:36 others.
04:37 Who I won't have to control.
04:39 And who might give me my first taste of
04:44 actual
04:46 human companionship.
04:48 I am damn cold my first night.
04:57 I find a cave
05:02 at the base of a range of mountains
05:05 that slope gently up to a white-capped sky-piercing summit.
05:10 Going in I am reminded
05:15 the words from The Hobbit, the description of the cave, pop into my mind for the first time in
05:21 almost forever. And I feel an ancient Celtic thrill of
05:27 exploration, of
05:30 roar-less, of cold and nature and rock and the absence of excuses.
05:36 I go to sleep so early and so deeply
05:44 that it feels only a moment before I
05:48 am awakened
05:50 by angels.
05:57 The faint light could be
05:59 sunset,
06:00 but then I realize it is coming from the wrong horizon and that it is dawn and
06:05 smiling floating pink cherubs swirl all around me.
06:12 I am
06:16 gripped
06:18 with a strange fevered exultation.
06:21 The confirmation that I am in heaven.
06:27 I have been judged and I have won.
06:31 I've not been cast down.
06:35 I've been set free.
06:38 The wilderness is paradise and hell is the city.
06:43 "Who are you?"
06:47 asks a gruff voice.
06:49 A gray-haired man with a sun-creased face enters the cave.
06:55 "I'm a refugee," I say, struggling to my feet. "Holy hell," says the man holding out his hand.
07:02 Two young men come into the cave, one of them carrying a little blonde boy.
07:10 "Who's this, Dad?" the older one asks.
07:14 "One of us, sounds like," says the old man. "My name is Roman."
07:20 "Lewis," I reply, shaking his hand.
07:24 "When did you die?"
07:26 He stares at me, goggle-eyed.
07:29 "Where...
07:32 Where do you think you are?" I laugh.
07:35 "Well, I know I died a long time ago, and then I was
07:42 judged, and then...
07:45 And now I wake up in a glorious sunrise,
07:50 surrounded by angels.
07:53 The two young men look at me uneasily and take a step back.
07:57 Roman said,
08:00 "You're not dead."
08:02 "I understand that. I went to
08:05 Sunday school when I was little.
08:08 Eternal life, new life, born again. We could never perish. Boys, why outside?"
08:16 The two young men back out of the cave.
08:21 A pink angel follows the one holding the little blonde boy, its white wings thrumming faintly.
08:27 Roman looks at me sympathetically.
08:32 "When did you last eat?"
08:35 "Last night. I'm not hungry."
08:37 He nods slowly. "You...
08:40 ate."
08:43 "Yes, as I said."
08:45 He looks at me for a long moment. I smile back.
08:49 "Nice boys." I say pleasantly. "Clearly got them under control." "What do you mean?"
08:55 "Well, obedient." "You say go, they go."
08:59 I raise one hand, make a fist, and pound it into an open palm.
09:03 Roman's eyes narrow. He takes a deep breath.
09:08 "You were convicted of...
09:12 child abuse."
09:15 "No!"
09:17 "No!" I cry. "No, absolutely not! I was not convicted. I was never convicted.
09:23 I pled the fifth, held my tongue, kept my secrets." "But that's what you were charged with." "Yes, yes."
09:30 Roman nods slowly.
09:33 Gears are grinding. He's making a decision.
09:37 "Did you abuse your child?" He asks finally.
09:43 "I wouldn't have, if the world hadn't changed."
09:47 I lean forward,
09:49 conspiratorially.
09:51 "Come on, you're a strong, hardy old soul. Must be a lot like you. Many out here, I think.
09:58 Let's get overseas. Tunnel if we have to."
10:01 I'm joking.
10:03 "They're also soft here, ripe for the pickings. We can come right out of the ocean, yank them up out of their seats of power."
10:10 "I was a military commander, you know, in my day.
10:14 Why should we eat acorns in the wild while they grow soft and fat with their virtual helmets? We are men, they are children."
10:22 While I am speaking, I cannot read his face. This curse of the future has escaped the city with me.
10:29 I see his eldest boy at the mouth of the cave,
10:33 to the left of his father's sturdy shoulder, and the blond boy is rolling his eyes at me and rotating his finger around his temple in the universal sign of "He is insane!"
10:44 The alliance is shattered, the angelic peace splinters, and I stride forward, raising my fist.
10:49 "Don't do it!" I scream at the terrified boy.
10:52 The gathered angels turn on me as one electric light burns my eyes and...
10:58 ...and I awaken again.
11:07 A cold.
11:10 There is a dead rabbit on the ground beside me, a dying fire flickering.
11:19 My eyes fill with tears at the kindness.
11:26 I roll on my back.
11:29 It is a sunset this time, and the red light highlights the tiny mountains above me,
11:36 the rough wall of the cave roof that is like frozen lava hanging over me.
11:44 The angels are gone.
11:50 I sit up on my elbows, wincing at the electric ache.
11:56 I turn to look out the cave.
12:01 The path stretches away down to the lowlands, the height of the trees scaling up as the earth lowers.
12:10 I see many footprints outside the cave.
12:14 Empty now, unless ghosts stand there still.
12:20 I get up.
12:25 I'm not hungry.
12:29 I walk outside the cave.
12:34 In the blue horizon depths of the evening, the wail of an animal startles.
12:42 Nothing moves.
12:45 Nothing.
12:48 I feel that I shall never sleep again.
12:55 I have never felt more alive.
13:01 I am free of people.
13:10 A chill breeze flows down from the uplands, rolling down from the blinding white of this sky-piercing peak.
13:19 "Don't do it!" screams my father's voice.
13:28 I laugh.
13:32 This is the opposite of an ocean.
13:39 They say, "From dust to dust."
13:44 Not with me, though.
13:47 I came from ice.
13:51 I can return.
13:55 They're not tears.
13:59 Just my eyes reacting to the ice.
14:07 I pick up a walking stick.
14:10 I turn to the dizzying white height of the mountain.
14:15 I start to climb.
14:18 Getting colder, it seems, with every step.
14:25 I've always loved being at the top.
14:34 I've always loved being at the top.
14:40 Hi there, this is Devan Molyneux.
14:44 I am the writer and narrator of this novel, "The Future,"
14:49 and I thank you so much for listening to it.
14:52 I hope that you will share it.
14:53 I have basically poured my entire heart, mind, body, and soul into this work.
14:58 It is the culmination of my life's work at the ripe old age of 55.
15:02 40 years of thought compressed into one narrative that seeks to communicate
15:09 every important theme I believe is necessary for the salvation of the world.
15:13 So please, if you have enjoyed the book, you can support what it is that I do
15:18 at freedomain.com/donate.
15:21 I really would appreciate it.
15:22 It was a huge amount of work to put all of this together.
15:25 And if you could share the book, I would really appreciate that as well.
15:29 So don't forget, freedomain.com/donate.
15:33 Thank you so much.
15:34 Stay safe.
15:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]