The World Inside download epub

In Robet Silverberg's novel "The World Inside" humanity attains utopia in the year 2381 when the population of the planet has grown to 75 billion people. War, starvation, crime and also birth control have been eliminated. Life is now totally fulfilled and sustained within Urbmons, mammoth skyscrapers a thousand stories high. This is also a world of total sexual freedom where men and women are expected to engage in "night walking"; refusing an invention for sex makes you a rude host. In this world it is a blessing to have children: most people are married at 12 and parents at 14. In fact, just thinking of controlling families is deemed heretical and something for which people can be put to death. Because the need to be outdoors and to travel has been eliminated thoughts of wanderlust are considered sick as well and speaking of them is another heresy. After all, these citizens live in a utopia.
The assumption of the system is that only those who are insane would have thoughts about things like privacy, faithfulness, and trust. But in Urbmon 116 there are those who want to have some individuality in their lives. Charles Mattern is a minor functionary who is disappointed that he and his wife, Principessa, had to stop at only four children. Siegmund Kluver sees the perfectly patterned existence of the Urbmons as being flawed even though he is destined to one of the omnipotent leaders of the Urbmon. So he searches throughout the vast complex of Urbmon 116 trying to find some answer to the doubts and fears that drive him, knowing that his entire future is being put in jeopardy by his actions.
"The World Inside" started out as a series of short stories about a grossly overpopulated Earth. There is Aureau Holston, a childless woman who is afraid her lowly status will force her family to emigrate to a newly constructed building, away from the only home they have ever known. The other two key characters in the novel are Jason Quevedo, a historian whose study of the ancient past is changing his views about the Utopia in which he lives, and Michael Statler, who actually escapes to the world outside Urbmon 116 only to learn that such freedom is problematic as well. Through these characters Silverberg addresses some of the world's most important issues and takes them to the sort of logical but extreme conclusion that tales of science fiction are so capable of creating. The question is whether the gift of life is more precious that the quality of the individual.
As is the tradition in utopian and dystopian novels, we are introduced to this brave new world through the eyes of a visitor from a colony on Venus, who is being guided by Mattern. This is a minor flaw in the novel, because why this gives us the requisite neophyte to be educated, it points to colonies off world where things might not only be different, but better. However, Silverberg does manage to do all of this in a more concise novel than is often the case with dystopian stories. You can also tell that this is a novel written around the time of the Sixties since one character achieves their true understanding of the Ubrmon's hivelike existence by taking a drug, although that same key moment of insight is achieved by a key character without such artificial inducement. Reading this today the great irony is that the population of the Earth has increased alarmingly, yet overpopulation is not the pressing concern it was when Silverberg wrote this book and Frank Brunner did "Stand on Zanzibar."

I found this vision of a future world for humanity to be intriguing, if not entirely believable. I just don't think that many people would be satisfied with a life of so few choices. Yes, I understand his theory that "artificial selection" by years of living in Urbmons would weed out people who dream of something more to life than reproduction, who question the status quo, who long to explore the outside world. I just think he underestimates how MANY people would be dissatisfied with this superficial society, and that they would get together and conspire to cause a revolution. Still, it was very well written and entertaining, and made me think long and hard, which any good book will do.

Great story. I had read this back in the mid 70s but wanted to read it again with an adult's POV. It was a miracle that I found it again. Some might find the sexual parts of this offensive. Let just say, women are mostly used as "baby" machines and sex objects, so 1950's I guess.

YMMV

Mike

I've read quite a few books dealing with future resource issues, both fictional and non-fictional, this is one of my favorites. There is a few parts that are undeniably 'soft porn', but they are used mostly as illustration on the utopian lifestyle and not just thrown in. It doesn't spend much time dealing with engineering or economics so it won't put you to sleep that way. Its quite a good look into an imperfect utopia and shows how humans can mess up even when given apparently unlimited resources.

dystopian future where overpopulation is managed by housing people inside massive urban buildings, where a person will never go outside, will probably never visit other parts of the world. People have few choices inside the urbmon as well with work and living apartments assigned. Worth the read.

Silverberg is classic. Classic SF is good ideas but not so good writing. Here the ideas are grate , however so is the writing.
In this book a study of what wil lhapen when no limits to population growth is set - how will humanity cope technically and emotionally.

It was more a group of short stories, who's plots intertwine than one novel. I really liked this book and it was interesting to say the least.

I read this book back in the 70's and somehow it got lost over the years, so I purchased another one. It arrived in even better condition than described. I am very happy with it.