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RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR
Nostradamus or Nostramadus step aside!
Your time's up. The creator of Dilbert -- the comic strip that
appears in over 1,500 newspapers worldwide -- Scott Adams is
the new seer, with his The Dilbert Future, which
emulates the phenomenal success of his earlier books that are
as satirical as the one under review: The Dilbert
Principle and Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook.
In The Dilbert
Future, Adams dons his remarkable soothsayer's robes and
turns his piercing eyes, and intellect -- not to speak of his
trenchant, undulating wit -- to subjects as diverse as technology,
the workplace, politics, elections, the battle of the sexes,
drive-through pet care, and the possibility, nay eventuality,
of intelligent -- or, stupid -- life on other planets.
Result? Adams' fascinating tome cusps through all the global
hype and hoopla, or call it what you may, to stretch our thoughts
and practices beyond the edge of conventional thinking. And,
in so doing, it unravels a mind-boggling mix of farce and
facts, and vice versa, that wobbles our social precepts and
percepts like the fizz in a soda water bottle, leaving us
gasping for breath -- both in awe and toxical surprise.
Adams' imagination is electric. Apt. Valid. Funny. His psyche
is acute. He uses metaphors, all right, but he tells a dynamic
story: of what-is-what-as-it-is. What's more, Adams' voice
for the future is bold, compelling, even schizophrenic vis-à-vis
the shape of things to come: of how a futuristic society would
evolve. He says that human nature won't change much. Because,
we will all continue to be guided by immutable principles
of stupidity, selfishness, and horniness, not to speak of
snobbery, with better and better technological prowess. That's
the good news. But, the bad news will remain, more or less,
the same: competitors will just become as clueless as you
are, and more and more skilled professionals will flee from
their corporate jobs and become their own bosses.
They will become entrepreneurs, consultants, cartoonists,
and so on. Not only that. They will make merry because they
will find more and more customers who are gullible enough
to buy anything -- no matter how worthless or stupid it is.
In good, old times, it's Persepolis. Now, it would be Confusopolis
-- a conglomerate of companies without barriers to market
entry! Great. Yet, Adams does not trumpet that his vision is
original. However, his idea is original, like all good authors
and cartoonists. And, he is no exception to that very
commonplace rule too!
Adams' futurescape is daringly brilliant. It not only reveals
his keen grasp of human nature but also sociology, and social
dynamics. With his predictions, he even rules out the possibility
of unpleasant surprises in the new millennium. Take his
Prediction 1, for example: "In the future, authors will
take a long time to get to the point. That way the book looks
thicker." Or, take his Prediction 3: "On an average,
'Induhviduals' who are alive today will experience 80 years
of complaint-free living. Unfortunately, they'll live to 160."
The word, Induhviduals, is a devious variant. It means someone
who is not a Dilbert reader, bright and attractive; but someone
who's an idiot. One can't refer to "them" as idiots.
Because, Dilbert readers are outnumbered? Yes, and the idea
has its own advantage. You can insult someone, says Adams,
without the risk of physical harm. So, he suggests a triad
of good strategies for thriving in a future full of Induhviduals:
- Wear loose clothing and pretend
your car battery is dead
- Keep Induhviduals in your car,
so you can use the car-pool lane
- Harness the stupidity of Induhviduals,
for your own financial gain.
Adams also conjures up visions of genetically
engineered children, and how smart people can get rid of someone
who has an incurable illness by cryogenic freezing. "You
can," he notes, "freeze their bodies and then thaw
them out… when scientists have invented a cure."
Yes, Adams is totally committed to the credo of acceptable
brainwashing and additional brainwashing. He contends, "There's
no such thing as being TOO cynical." Because, according
to him, life in the future will not be like Star Trek.
Far from it. He is also convinced that there will be any number
of high-tech gadgets that will goof off, and still play a
major part in everyone's life.
Adams' insightful look into life on other planets, democracy,
gender relations, work, marketing, society, endangered species
etc., in the 21st century, and why some things don't work
-- like airlines, bicycle seats -- including a new view of the
future, affirmations, cause and effect, all make delightful,
rip-roaring reading.
His merry work is also replete with his
famed cartoon strips throughout. Also, the power they lend
to his brilliant textual excursions is enormous: a real treat
to both the eye and the mind. Add to this, Adams' repertoire,
breezy repertory, reservoir, or marvellous splash of hundreds of other
mind-blowing ideas, and you've a rollicking ride -- a ride
two-hundred times more memorable than anything EsselWorld
can offer -- a real tonic for the mind and soul.
It's a joyride of a lifetime, doubtless. A discovery of one's self, and
the future. It's simple. It's complex. It's something beyond
the realms of stupidity for our century.
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