2068

Imagine the world after an ecological catastrophe. Four of the main cultures that fed humanity died from an unknown disease, and Hunger began. Out of six billion, only a tenth survived, and the main task now is to feed those who remain. Forests were cut down, all fertile lands were plowed, and art, education, science, and medicine were sacrificed; in a primitive agrarian society, they are not needed, they are dangerous, and they turn into heresy. Somehow, only fifty years are enough for a new Middle Ages to arrive—relentless and backwoods. People are needed again only to work hard, reproduce a new labor force, and die on the threshold of old age. And only the decrepit witnesses of the former life—educated frightened “smart people”—may at least try to change something.