Remember Donald Rumsfeld’s words
to the press twenty years ago, in 2002? ‘[…] as we know, there are known
knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known
unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But
there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.’ These
latter ones are the scary ones, I guess. The Incas contemplated dark
constellations in the night skies, where the dark spaces (the unknowns) were
the object of interest rather than the bright, visible known points, the
stars.
Argentine Pola Oloixarac weaves
three stories into an unusual, weird and at times a little clumsy volume. The
first part is set in the late 19th century: explorer Niklas Bruun
ventures into caves on some Atlantic island. While in search for some hallucinogenic
stuff that would allegedly erase whatever it is that separates one species from
others, he and his group become the more-than-willing prisoners of a tribe
whose women profusely engage in sexual intercourse with the visitors.
The second part has an enough
promising start – it is truly hilarious and Oloixarac proves she does have the
skill. An Argentine student travels to Brazil and gets pregnant. Her son is
Cassio, who will become a notorious hacker and will eventually be hired by a
big corporation with less than clearly defined aims and purposes. Governments
and corporations seem engaged in a race to discover the way they would be able
to capture our DNA either by means of real samples or using strange,
ever-present instruments that resemble facial-recognition devices called Bionoses.
Everyone, be careful where you fart! Your DNA might be collected and used against
your will.
The final part brings in Piera,
an Argentine biologist. It is set in just a couple of years’ time. She teams up
with Cassio in an obscure plot to develop viruses and plant them across the
whole world via the web.
The author seems to focus strongly
on big issues, no doubt: where are we heading as Humanity? And what might be the
consequences of blending the human and the technological in the context of a
world where all of our data has fast become merchandise for sale? Scary,
yes. The unknown unknowns!
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