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While reading the articles that Kelly reads following the events that has occurred the last 50 years, leading to the current state of the world, what struck you? Was there something that surprised you? Was there something that you liked? Something that disturbed you?

Though there are a myriad of disturbing things, I personally liked that the average lifespan of a person is 120 years and that the pollution decreased overtime.

hsimone wrote: ↑04 Aug 2018, 11:30 While reading the articles that Kelly reads following the events that has occurred the last 50 years, leading to the current state of the world, what struck you? Was there something that surprised you? Was there something that you liked? Something that disturbed you?

There was one part of the news article chapters of this book that really got me thinking. What would happen if a large group of people just stopped paying their taxes? Yes, the IRS could garnish their wages and try to come after their possessions, but if people were able to find away to protect their assets or had so few assets that they didn't care, what would the government do? What kind of damage would it do to the economy? I don't think it will ever happen, but it is an interesting thought exercise.

Great question! I found it really interesting how a widespread tax default resulted in martial law. It was interesting to read about how the company's security forced helped protect the people.

That’s a good point, for sure. ^ I didn’t think too much about that but you’ve got my mind moving now haha. It is quite the thought exercise. I do believe it could happen though.

I’m only about halfway done with this book, but so far what has struck me in the articles Kelly is reading is how realistic they seem. I could easily imagine the various descriptions of how the US government loses control happening as described. It’s all too eerie, to be honest.

jay_2 wrote: ↑04 Aug 2018, 17:38 That’s a good point, for sure. ^ I didn’t think too much about that but you’ve got my mind moving now haha. It is quite the thought exercise. I do believe it could happen though.

Oh, I agree that it could happen ... I guess I just kind of hope it never does. I have a feeling it would be complete chaos. I hate paying taxes, but I would hate to see the state of the country if everyone suddenly stopped paying them.

Quite a few things disturbed me. I got the impression that various Cities had been reclaimed, new ones built in other parts of the world, but life outside of those ‘controlled’ areas might be very different. Instead of wars between countries and nations, there are conflicts between super corporations – the people sometimes end up as collateral damage. The establishment of security zones where one super corporation has jurisdiction of control. Only they have access to media in their jurisdiction. That sounds like a total lack of freedom.

I was almost surprised to see that the super corporations had obviously been involved with nuclear weapons.
While living 120 years and low pollution might sound good in the world as we know it, in a world described like that it does not seem like a very good trade-off. I am wondering how they avoid over-population. I felt like Kelly when she described it as a terrible world.

I was surprised by the Contract Scandal. It was very interesting that an American Corporation had set up a group of people in Africa in economical domiciles built to last and there was a small schoolhouse. I was thinking this was an experiment to see if it could be done in America.

I also like September 11, 2041, where "Todd Anderson" wishes everyone a blessed Patriot Day. To all those lost in service to America including soldiers, firefighters, first responders, and victims.

I was struck by the asset hiding. The mention of cryptocurrency was fascinating because I have looked into its current incarnation and had the same thought that it would enable people to hide their assets from the government.

I haven't read the book but that was a really good point to include in the book. I do hope such observations turn true 50 years from now lol. But 120 years is a long lifespan and with the way average lifespan is dwindling these days due to many reasons, it seems unlikely.

I actually thought the pace of the news articles was so well thought out. What happened was reasonable and believable within the allotted time frame. Apart from all of the information that was given, I just thought that Gariffo could have tried to rush it, or conversely could have made it all happen over hundreds of years. I think the timing was all perfect.

I think the part about not paying taxes stuck out to me. Because is a large number of people were to do it and are able to cover up or somehow keep their assets from being known then I think that the government would eventually fall apart.

Yet, the downside to all that would not be the government falling apart because, how wants to work for nothing but, what would that mean for public schools and publicly funded activities.

The chapter with all the news reports could have been laid out differently. The background info they were giving was great, but did we have to trudge through each article? Franklin could have summed up a lot of the boring stuff. I felt like Kelly did, when she got done reading them, staring off in space.

The one thing I thought was interesting was that the government tried to keep it going in D.C., stubborn people.

Dabuddhababe wrote: ↑07 Aug 2018, 18:57 The chapter with all the news reports could have been laid out differently. The background info they were giving was great, but did we have to trudge through each article? Franklin could have summed up a lot of the boring stuff. I felt like Kelly did, when she got done reading them, staring off in space.

The one thing I thought was interesting was that the government tried to keep it going in D.C., stubborn people.

I totally agree. I had to force myself to concentrate through a lot of them. They became a little tedious after a while. The break between them (I think Sliver goes off to kill someone else) was definitely necessary to keep my attention.

I thought the Newspaper Articles section was the most painful thing I have ever tried to read. The time jumped around and was hard to follow. Way too much detail and rambling. I really with Sliver would have just sat down with Kelly and said "here is what happened" and spent a page giving her a background. If I wasn't reading the book for this forum I would have put it down and picked up something else.