The World Inside

As the "spotlight reviews" state, this is one of Silverberg's best, and handled in an unusual and engaging plot style. Silverberg has invented a future "utopian" society where the earth supports 75 billion people "comfortably" in terms of physical resources -- and the society sees expanding that population rapidly as its main reason for existing. A clever balance of technology, energy efficiency, and agricultural balance all makes this seem possible. What is so great about this to me is how Silverberg gradually brings to light the true horror of living in this society, by having us share the thoughts and experiences of a series of its members as the novel progresses. In each case you see that on the surface, all seems well, yet ALL of these people are terribly unhappy and have no true sense of purpose or connectedness. Why? Well, handling the population has required huge sacrifices. Absolute conformation to the norms is an absolute requirement. Failure to adhere to such norms is met with brainwashing, or for more aggregious cases (or where the brainwashing fails) summary execution by being dumped into the nearest matter-to-energy converter -- where your atoms "serve" society without causing any pollution. There is still a heavy class structure to society, with all the ill emotional effects that holds today, and the lucky few chosen for the top reap all the benefits -- NOT for the good of themselves more than for "the people". The results, which Silverberg gradually makes us realize is a society which: allows no personal property, pays virtually no attention to the emotional needs of its children, demands total conformity and obedience upon pain of death or being stripped of all personality, gives no choice over where or how one lives, gives no choice over career, interests, mates, and has most of its members taking hallucinogens as a socially accepted psychological crutch. Also, religion is a pre-packaged standardized psychological crutch, thrust on anyone feeling unhappy with essentially the "you have to have faith" mantra. Finally, nearly everyone feels like a failure for not LIKING their role in the SHAM that society is full of happy members. Now, about 30 years after this novel was written when we look around at the first world -- the parallels are eerie. As the global population continues to mount rapidly and our technologies allow us to live more and more in isolated boxes and consume prepackaged "goods" in ever more standardized forms by our leaders, our media, our corporations, our religions, and our own wants -- one has to wonder if Silverberg was forecasting the inevitable psychological state of man, or if he just got lucky. Either way, the result was brilliantly insightful. This book is easily a peer to such classics as "Brave New World", "1984", and "Animal Farm" in terms of the clarity of its vision.

In Robet Silverberg's novel "The World Inside" humanity attains utopia in the year 2381 when the population of the planet has grown to 75 billion people. War, starvation, crime and also birth control have been eliminated. Life is now totally fulfilled and sustained within Urbmons, mammoth skyscrapers a thousand stories high. This is also a world of total sexual freedom where men and women are expected to engage in "night walking"; refusing an invention for sex makes you a rude host. In this world it is a blessing to have children: most people are married at 12 and parents at 14. In fact, just thinking of controlling families is deemed heretical and something for which people can be put to death. Because the need to be outdoors and to travel has been eliminated thoughts of wanderlust are considered sick as well and speaking of them is another heresy. After all, these citizens live in a utopia.The assumption of the system is that only those who are insane would have thoughts about things like privacy, faithfulness, and trust. But in Urbmon 116 there are those who want to have some individuality in their lives. Charles Mattern is a minor functionary who is disappointed that he and his wife, Principessa, had to stop at only four children. Siegmund Kluver sees the perfectly patterned existence of the Urbmons as being flawed even though he is destined to one of the omnipotent leaders of the Urbmon. So he searches throughout the vast complex of Urbmon 116 trying to find some answer to the doubts and fears that drive him, knowing that his entire future is being put in jeopardy by his actions."The World Inside" started out as a series of short stories about a grossly overpopulated Earth. There is Aureau Holston, a childless woman who is afraid her lowly status will force her family to emigrate to a newly constructed building, away from the only home they have ever known. The other two key characters in the novel are Jason Quevedo, a historian whose study of the ancient past is changing his views about the Utopia in which he lives, and Michael Statler, who actually escapes to the world outside Urbmon 116 only to learn that such freedom is problematic as well. Through these characters Silverberg addresses some of the world's most important issues and takes them to the sort of logical but extreme conclusion that tales of science fiction are so capable of creating. The question is whether the gift of life is more precious that the quality of the individual. As is the tradition in utopian and dystopian novels, we are introduced to this brave new world through the eyes of a visitor from a colony on Venus, who is being guided by Mattern. This is a minor flaw in the novel, because why this gives us the requisite neophyte to be educated, it points to colonies off world where things might not only be different, but better. However, Silverberg does manage to do all of this in a more concise novel than is often the case with dystopian stories. You

No one is better than Silverberg in the realm of the science fiction novella or short novel. This slim book (now out of print) is one of his masterpieces. Imagine a world of billions upon billions of people, most of whom live inside carefully-controlled, massive structures like high-rise apartments. Silverberg apparently took a theme from a concept design of the futuristic architect Paolo Soleri, who proposed a city consisting of a giant cube set on a corner, each side a kilometer long. Giant "urbmons" (urban monads) are each a world unto themselves, and set in giant clusters such as Boswash, San-San, and Chipitts. Each set of floors is a city in itself, and there are customs, accents, foods, and social strata for each city. Of course, the higher you go, the more status, and...what's really strange, despite what would seem to be cramped quarters, people are encouraged, almost commanded, to have dozens of children. The world, in the urbmon economic system, can support them. It's a kind of utopia, with no hunger, no disease, no pain, and gratification of almost any kind of carnal desire.Antisocial behavior is controlled by indoctrination, education, religion, drugs and free sexual activity amongst any and all. Denying someone what they desire would be selfish, would lead to friction and that would be unblessed. But is everyone blissful in this utopia? Or is it a dystopia? "The World Inside" follows a number of memorable characters, and traces their acceptance or rejection of their world. Fascinating, funny and tragic--and very creative. This is one of my "top-ten" sci-fi short novel favorites.

I loved this book. Everything by Silverberg I've read since this one has been a let down because of how good this book was. Not quite a novel, this is actually just a collection of short stories focused on specific characters living in a huge apartment building set in an overpopulated future. The characters lives sometimes interconnect and the whole thing works as a complete unit but you could easily just read one random chapter out of the book and enjoy it as a story in and of itself. Beautifully developed characters. Silverberg has a very emotional style that can really grab you. The last chapter was incredibly painful to read because it seemed so real. If you read only one Silverberg novel read this one!

Here begins a happy day in 2381. The morning sun is high enough to touch the uppermost fifty stories of Urban Monade 116. "Good morning!" says the screen heartily. "The external temperature, if anyone's interested, is 28 degrees. Today's population figure at Urbmon 116 is 881,115, which is +102 since yesterday and +14,187 since the first of the year. God bless, but we're slowing down!"Every person of the 75,000,000,000 Earth Urbmon population lives with his/her parents until early puberty, at which point he/she is sent to the consummation halls with a pre-assigned life partner of approximately equal age. When they have their first child, the young couple moves to a sere flat on the floor the number of which reflects their social status. Here they will live out the rest of their perfectly happy lives, begetting a happy average of nine children, working at their dead-end careers (after all, if things were solved, what would there be left to do!?), and nightwalking into strangers' flats for more habitual intercourse. When they die, they will be sent for recycling down the tubes. On Earth of 2381, sex is as casual as shaking someone else's hand, and is encouraged by the muted social standards.The book takes the format of interlinked chapter-like stories portraying various family units that can't quite live by the norm. Like the Quevedo family, who secretly feel like resurrecting the antediluvian concepts of vice and violence. Or Michael Statler, who breaks the supreme law of the Urbmon by escaping into the outside world, with which he is profoundly alienated. Or Siegmund Kluver, who, having risen to the very top at the tender age of fifteen, discovers the profound emptyness of it all.Although very sexually explicit (after all, this is a future where intercourse is a perfectly acceptable aspect of society!), "The World Inside" provokes thought. Certainly, this work of science fiction is not to be missed.