28 Months Later
Ever see what a once grand and glorious mall or office complex looks like after being completely abandoned for two and a half years? Well, it is obvious Yang has becomes he uses a metaphor that hits the nail on the head:
“Unused infrastructure decays quickly and gives an environment a bleak, dystopian atmosphere, like a zombie movie set.”
Oscar Wilde Said
The infinitely quotable Oscar Wilde comes in handy with a metaphor when Yang is describing the challenge of how humans may need to work more than work needs to be done by humans. Most people hate their job, but in the absence of working even employed are a loss for how to spend more than a few couple of weeks doing something else:
“Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.”
Two-thousand Years of…Progress?
Yang relates a joke he heard from a friend to illustrate how little things have actually changed in the processing of government over the millennia. It is a joke constructed on a metaphor, but unfortunately rings sadly accurate:
“being in DC was like being in Rome, with the marble there to remind you that nothing will change.”
The Jobless Society
Somewhat inartistically, Yang draws upon pop culture references to situate a metaphorical vision of a future without jobs. The problem is that one of allusions clearly is a future where people have jobs. Still, most will get where he’s going:
“The future without jobs will come to resemble either the cultivated benevolence of Star Trek or the desperate scramble for resources of Mad Max.”
Mr. Yang Explains it All
Arguably, no doubt, one of the most stunning metaphorical images in the entire book is Yang’s genuinely insightful potential explanation for the recent increase in acts of madness by white men with guns:
“It’s difficult to go from feeling like the pillar of one’s society to feeling like an afterthought or failure. There is a strong heritage of military service in many white communities that will be subverted into antigovernment militias, white nationalist gangs, and bunkers in the woods.”
