The Joy Makers

"The Joy Makers" starts out slowly, with a narrow focus, then gradually expands to deal with philosophical and existential questions of cosmic significance. That's what good science fiction is all about: think of A.E. Van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Issher" or Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man." Yet, while those two novels have received huge accolades, "The Joy Makers" has almost been forgotten. This is a real shame, because it is every bit as thought-provoking as Van Vogt's and Bester's efforts. "The Joy Makers" is composed of three novellas. The first contains a plot that has since become a cliche in the science fiction and horror genres. A new corporation comes to town, selling happiness. Using advanced technology, it can guarantee your proper adjustment in society and, ultimately, hedonic bliss. The episode follows the struggles of one man, who initially rejects the technology but later is tragically desperate to obtain it. The second novella takes place many years in the future after the first. The hedonists have now taken over society. A sort of priesthood has developed, whose function is to regulate people's lives so that they remain happy. But already cracks are beginning to appear in the edifice: the idea that happiness can be achieved through sublimation and redirection of one's desires through classical psychological and philosophical training is being challenged by a decadent hedonics that looks only to momentary gratification. By the end of the second section, it is unclear whether qualitative hedonism or cheap thrills will win out.The third novella gives us the answer to that question. I don't want to spoil the plot, but it quickly becomes clear that people's desire for unearned bliss has won out over everything else. Family, achievement, struggle, creativity have all taken a back seat to unending bliss, with disastrous results. The world has become a sort of decadent, cybernetic opium den (amazing prophetic job by Gunn!). One non-decadent, newly arrived from the hinterlands of Mars, seeks to change this pattern. In the course of fighting the powers that control this plugged-in and dropped-out society, he engages in a brilliant philosophical argument on the nature of life. This meditation is absolutely wonderful, and I re-read it every so often just to immerse myself in the concepts. Should we withdraw from the pain of life, like Schopenhauer and Epicurus taught, or should we charge forward in the name of creativity and life itself, as Neitzsche contended? The answers this novel gives show the potential of science fiction to address deep philosophical and existential questions.