After reading epic, multiple-volume science fiction sagas like Dune and Foundation, I picked up Exogenesis by Peco Gaskovski. It’s an interesting novel borrowing heavily from sci-fi classics such as 1984 and Brave New World. It combines the ideas of artificial births and designer children, the destruction of the family unit, and the rise of the surveillance society. And it does this in a relatively short novel that is easy to read but packs a powerful punch.
The novel follows Maelin Kivela, an officer in the city of Lantua in the not-too-distant future. She’s in charge of managing the sterilization of the Benedites — people who cling to the “old ways” of natural births, practicing religion, and accepting hardships instead of embracing the technological bliss of the state-controlled society. While trying to do her duty and escape her past, Maelin learns the hollowness of a world trying to create a utopia completely detached from the morals and principles found in religion and faith.
There are so many themes in this book, providing a mirror of where our society may be headed if we’re not careful. You will find themes like:
- Designer children — Fetuses are developed in artificial wombs in giant warehouses. Parents are giving projections and probabilities based on DNA analysis of how the child will develop.
- The attack on the family unit — Children are raised in state-controlled facilities. Parents are allowed monitored visits.
- Social credit scores — The state assigns everyone a social class based on their behavior. As they ascend in status, the state gives them exclusive perks like access to more luxuries. At the same time, things can be taken away for dissidence.
- Escapism through entertainment — Everyone carries devices similar to smartphones providing games and entertainment. But the state also uses them to track people’s location, conversations, and behaviors.
- The de-emphasis of the value of human life — Parents choose one of 200 fetuses to keep while the rest are discarded.
- The need for a surveillance state to maintain control — Drones and cameras track people’s location and record conversations. Infractions lead to a loss of social credit.
The most striking theme in Exogenesis is taking a peek at a society that is not grounded in any sort of faith or religion in the divine. In the absence of families and morality, the state needs to monitor people constantly to maintain order and control. After all, in order to have any sort of order, there needs to be a sense of shared ethics and morals. Religion has traditionally been the source of inner self-regulation. But without religion or a family structure, the state must perform this juggling act of providing incentives and punishments to hold an orderly society together. And while Maelin has enjoyed the privilege of a high social score (known as echelon levels), she questions the superficiality of her life. Although comfortable, she feels like she’s leading a futile life, unlike those who reject modernity for the freedoms and purpose only found in faith.
For anyone seeking a vivid, thoughtful, and ultimately hopeful glimpse into a future where faith and freedom wrestle with the machinery of control, Exogenesis is a book not to miss.