INFERNO by Dan Brown

SPOILER ALERT!

I’ve finally finished reading Dan Brown’s Inferno and I must say it’s an amazingly chilling read (although the way he writes is confusing at times).

Yes, it’s unbelievably far out, his serial heroes Robert Langdon being perfectly versed with all of history and symbology and iconography and Sienna Brooks being inconceivably the most intelligent woman on earth. But then again, you don’t read Dan Brown books because of the redundant way it’s written or the absurd combination of words, you read it to be engrossed in a speedy, heart racing plot and see that facts from history, truthful global conspiracies could be incorporated into a work of fiction. You are educated. You then get hooked.
Note: Everything that happened in Inferno happened within 24 hours.

The book, inspired by the inscrutable symbolisms from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy and Sandro Botticelli’s Map of Hell, is devoted to transhumanism, devoted to the future of humanity and the existential risk it reveals due to overpopulation and the alarming fact that in the next century we may cease to exist. What’s frightening is that depicted in the book are two graphs from the World Health Organization supporting this theory. It is also mentioned by the antagonist of the story, Bertrand Zobrist, a deranged biochemist, in order for humanity to survive a sustainable environment, the population of the world should not run over four billion. We are currently running to seven or eight billion. Zobrist believed that unless a catastrophic event significantly reduces the startling rate of population growth, the human race will be wiped out thus, with the aid of the Consortium, he creates an airborne virus that could modify human DNA causing 1/3 of the world’s population to be sterile.

When I was reading the book, i did realize that this idea could somehow be true. Mentioned also in the book was the very controversial portrayal of Manila as the gates of hell. When Sienna Brooks joined in a humanitarian mission to one of the third world countries, they went to Manila, Philippines and it was mentioned in the book that she was shocked by its apocalyptic poverty and was almost raped by local ruffians. An excerpt from the book goes: “When the group settled in among the throngs in the city of Manila—the most densely populated city on earth—Sienna could only gape in horror. She had never seen poverty on this scale.”

I believe this sparked controversy because most Filipino “nation builders” are in denial. Yes we are on an alarming scale of poverty and unemployment and one of the reasons to this situations is due to overpopulation. They fail to see the overcrowded metropolis, the high crime rate, child labor, sex trade, pollution and unemployment. I am sure that this is not only applicable to Manila but also to densely populated areas all over the world.

Somehow I viewed the book as an eye opener on what is the world’s current status. And maybe somewhere, there is a deranged Bertrand Zobrist existing, a scientist with a mind ahead of its time, also creating a solution to help humanity survive.

Ok, stopping to overthink now. But again, I loved reading this book. 😊👍👏📕

xx

DMV