The ‘Purge Plague’ (Part 1), What brought it about?

The Purge Plague, can you elaborate on that?

purge plague gene splicing GMO genome 57855280 - mankind and evolution, female portrait against abstract science backgroundsThe Purge Plague is a speculation that I came up with to justify the culture of Mona’s world. However, it is a speculation that I firmly believe is possible, if not likely, to occur. Most of all, it is The Purge Plague that causes the near extinction of the human race.

Let’s compare the post plague era with today’s world as we know it today. For centuries, we’ve been cross-breeding plants and animals to create new subspecies. Most fail and the subspecies dies out. Some, however, become a new species and reproduce, creating copies of themselves.

Over the last sixty years, scientists and corporations are doing more than that. They are slicing genes at the genetic level. Sometimes, they do it to see if they can. More often than not, there is a specific goal they are trying to attain.

gene splicing 27282224 - dna molecule, structural fragment of z-form, 3d illustrationBe it crops or animal stock, gene splicing is happening today. Farmers, big and small, are trying to develop hardier crops, resistant to insect and disease. Another goal is to produce more usable product per acre, regardless of the species. More product for less cost means higher profits.

Consequences

The Purge Plague speculates what would happen to life should a gene splice replicate on a massive scale with undesirable results. As a result, the resultant genome is so hardy, so resistant to eradication, that it spreads across the planet, modifying the DNA of every living plant, animal, and insect. The genome rapidly invades every organism on the planet, humans included.

Consequently, species fail to reproduce or are without critical biological systems to process nutrients from the foods they ingest. Specifically, consumable proteins that are nutritional in nature and necessary for life. Without being able to ingest consumable proteins; plants, animals, and people wither and die. Even today, vegans ingest proteins in the form of legumes, beans, nuts, and similar plant sources.

Think what would happen if all of these species died out suddenly, all at once. Mass extinction.

 


In my next post

I will explore the extraordinary lengths taken to halt the plague.

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Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored has to do with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be. It is a five-part series that I will publish over the next several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.

Tell me about Mona’s culture (Part 2)

What follows are excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. I’ve condensed it to a five-part series, which I intend to published over the next week. I hope it will provide insight into the world I created with the ‘Mona Bendarova Adventures’. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.


Following the ‘Purge Plague’ and over hundreds of years, societal rules changed to accommodate the new reality. War, religion, and social injustices fell by the wayside. Gone also was the concept of money, love, marriage, and monogamy. In Mona’s contemporary time, they simply have no comprehension of these concepts. Survival of the species became paramount.

Earth of two mindsThe last-ditch effort to save the human race through gene manipulation caused other consequences and society continued to adapt. People perished by the billions. Genetic changes within females caused them to become extremely submissive to males while males suffered extremely high mortality rates. Within two generations, population disparities between men and women became extremely unbalanced. Within a century, only one male in 10,000 survived to adulthood, leaving about 66 men for every million women.

To compensate, a system arose to regulate and deal with progeny and food supply. Live births surviving to maturity are graded and categorized for the quality of their meat. Meat that one day will feed their community. To ensure fairness, an elaborate system developed to secure equitable conversion processing among everyone. Out of necessity, progeny remained unnamed until maturity and bound to a house.

With the dissimilar distribution of men to women, society accommodated the shift by distributing a single male and master per estate.

The Master became ‘the dominant and the deciding authority’ in all things related to their house. The rest of the residents of a house were generally women. While women could rise to become the Master of a house, admittedly, this was a rare event. Otherwise, women submitted to the needs of their house and Master.

In my next post, I’ll expand upon the consequences of past decisions.

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Tell me about Mona’s culture (part 1)

What follows are excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. I’ve condensed it to a five-part series, which I intend to published over the next week. I hope it will provide insight into the world I created with the ‘Mona Bendarova Adventures’. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.


Mona’s Culture? What an interesting question.

Estate HouseMona lives in a feudal world set thousands of years in our future. She lives in a world without a central power or government. Instead, her community consists of loosely linked estates, commonly called houses, each named after the owner of their estate. Residents who live on the estate refer to the owner as ‘Master’. Loosely tying the estates together, is Club Lothario. The club acts as a central meeting-house, civic center, and relaxed governing body. The club acts to ensure each house meets their quota to the community.

Their culture evolved to deal with a near extinction event more than a millennium in the past. Cultural roots go back to a time when gene manipulation of the food-producing animals and plants was common place. Eventually, larger profits were sought, mistakes were made and aggressive genome manipulation ran out of control. Unsurprisingly, the plague nearly wiped out all life on Earth.

The ‘Purge Plague’, as it was later called, caused in the extinction of every insect, animal and most of the edible plant life, leaving the planet devoid of any and all sources of consumable protein. As the plague ran on over decades, the world was quickly stripped of life. Humans were about to follow suit.

Through extraordinary and expensive measures, scientists at the time were able to halt the extinction of the human species. In one massive, last-ditch effort of gene manipulation, the human race was saved.

Despite halting the extinction, the stigma of genetic manipulation survived. Over time, the idea of gene splicing was abhorrent to the population. It didn’t take long before all gene manipulation was banned all around the world.

As with all actions, there are consequences. The most significant consequence was, in order for humans to survive, they learned to consume the only source of protein available … themselves.

In my next post, I’ll expand upon how their culture evolved.

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