by Gene Brewer
ROB has decided to stay. With all the troubles he’s seen, he prefers to live here than go to a place where none of the things that befell him could happen. Incomprehensible, wouldn’t you agree? And thoroughly human.
Summary
B-TIK is one of the most beautiful small WORLDS in the GALAXY. In fact, the EARTH could truly become a paradise if the human inhabitants stopped trying their very best to “multiply and subdue” it. Their cancerous population growth, mindless consumption of its natural resources, and catastrophic elevation of themselves to superiority over all the other species who co-habit their PLANET have corrupted it for everyone, including themselves.
Given their evolutionary history, however, perhaps the PLANET was doomed from the beginning. In any case, their self-centeredness has outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any. The “idea” that they are entitled to everything they can get their hands on is reinforced daily by their governments, their laws, their parents, their schools, their entertainment media, their religions. If they are to survive the next century, their juvenile egos will have to mature and learn to rely on values other than family, country, and gods to give their lives meaning. Countless humans have said to me, “It’s more complicated than that!” But to a child, everything is complicated. Apparently nothing short of genetic manipulation will fix the defect, and even that is [fraught] with difficulties—who is going to decide which genes to manipulate?
As B-TIK moves inexorably toward catastrophe, there will be more and more sapiens who will slowly awaken and wonder what went wrong. Unfortunately, it is almost too late to reverse the damage, even though a simple treatment of all their social and environmental illnesses—the elimination of capital, nations, religions and parental indoctrination—is readily available. Yet, with only a quarter of a century left to initiate the necessary changes, the majority of them continue to go on with their robotic ways as if there will be no tomorrow. Ironic, no?
Without these adjustments the prognosis is not good, and the sapiens will not survive another century. If they manage to evolve before they self-destruct, however, they could become admirable citizens of the UNIVERSE, and certainly some of the more interesting ones. But they still have a long way to go. Even after a thousand centuries of experience, they are yet children.
Afterword
I’ve probably read prot’s “Report” a hundred times since 1990, and it never fails to amaze me. Not because of the occasional grain of truth imbedded in the pages, but because of what it has to say about his alter ego, Robert Porter, who is decidedly human. All of prot’s “solutions” to the world’s problems are connected, in one way or another, with those of his Earthly “twin.”
For example, his utter abhorrence for the sex act and contempt for the family unit could just as easily be explained by Robert’s abuse at the hands of a pedophilic uncle and the fateful day in 1985 when an intruder raped and murdered his wife and daughter. Similarly, Rob’s family’s near-poverty, the negative effects on his future of the rigid tenets of religious dogma, and the failure of society in general to address these issues might all have contributed to prot’s negative assessment of our economic and social structures.
Regardless of their origins, however, prot’s observations deserve serious consideration, in my opinion. Since my retirement I have spent a good deal of time looking into the way we humans have treated the Earth and everything on it, and the picture is a grim one. The endless religious and ethnic clashes in the Middle East, in Northern Ireland, in Bosnia and Africa and India, have destroyed or ruined countless lives (both human and nonhuman). Human overpopulation has also caused enormous suffering around the world, and it is projected to become far worse. The economic disparity between rich and poor nations continues to increase by the hour. Schoolchildren remain ignorant about everything except the most basic subjects, and sometimes even those, and no one wants to spend another cent to rectify this problem. We ignore all these problems at our peril.
Am I suggesting that we forego our religious beliefs, practice strict birth control and refuse to send our children to schools? Of course not. But I have come to believe that, if we are to avoid catastrophe, we must take some steps toward those ends. We can certainly cut down on the purchase of items we don’t need, for instance. This will require some adjustments for a while, but the economy will eventually come to a new equilibrium. To offset this situation we could impose higher taxes on the wealthy among us. No doubt this will provoke outcries from a number of people, but this, too, will pass.
The schools could certainly do a much better job of educating our children about the problems we face as a planet, and almost everything else. Why are we so eager to go to war? Why do so many people not know who their Senators are? Or who wrote Middlemarch? Or the rudiments of genetics? Or where to find Chad on a map? Or the basics of classical music and art? Or the difference between a quark and a quasar? At a minimum, the schools should teach that ignorance is not something to be proud of, and maybe that’s enough.
We could certainly phase out the consumption of meat, which is one of the most environmentally destructive practices we maintain and totally unnecessary for human nutrition. And then there’s the mindboggling waste associated with the production of weapons and other preparations for war. National interests should be respected, but of what use are they if the world itself is in serious jeopardy?
Religion is a bit trickier than the others. People (including me) hold onto their beliefs as if their lives depended on them, regardless of the animosity generated by intolerant beliefs all across the globe. Nevertheless, it should at least be possible to admit that there is more than one way to find truth and to understand God.
Of course all of these things will take a tremendous amount of sacrifice and effort. Might it be worth it? I sincerely believe so. Indeed, we may have no choice. Skin cancer and average global temperatures are already on the rise, our climate changes are wreaking economic havoc, and the rainforests and the unique species, including medicinal plants, they harbor are rapidly disappearing. And these are only the tips of the melting icebergs. Arable farmland is shrinking, water and energy resources are drying up, blackouts and brownouts are becoming more frequent, and on and on.
Will prot’s suggestions save us from ourselves? Who knows? But even the greatest optimists among us would probably admit that they may be a lot better than doing nothing. In any case, I’m willing to give them a try if you are....
Acknowledgements
I thank my wife Karen for setting me straight on this one.
I’m also grateful to Dr Carol Boettcher, Dept. of Linguistics, Columbia University, for the initial translation of prot’s report into English, and brother Bob and friend Jalel Sager for incisive comments.
It was probably Isaac Bashevis Singer who first compared the treatment of animals with the events of the holocaust.
Footnotes
1Some of prot’s other comments, which space did not permit including here, are listed in “The Wisdom (or Craziness) of prot,” at the end of this book.
A Note on the Author
Before becoming a novelist, Gene Brewer studied DNA replication and cell division at several major research institutions. He lives in New York City and Vermont with his wife and mixed-breed dog, Flower.
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K-PAX first published in Great Britain 1995
First published in the USA as a Wyatt book for St Martin’s Press
Copyright © 1995 by Gene Brewer
K-PAX II: On A Beam of Light first published in Great Britain 2001
First published in the USA by St Martin’s Press
Copyright © 2001 by Gene Brewer
K-PAX III: The Worlds of prot first published in Great Britain 2002
Copyright © 2002 by Gene Brewer
Prot’s Report first published in Great Britain 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Gene Brewer
This paperback edition first published 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Gene Brewer
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