Theme: If you can’t control yourselves, someone’s gonna have to do it for you
Time: 44:23

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5. Paul Ehrlich, Population Bomb, Population Explosion. Stephen Emmott, Ten Billion. Dr. Danny Dorling, Population 10 Billion. Harry Harrison, Make Room, Make Room. John Brunner, Stand On Zanzibar. Isaac Asimov, Caves of Steel.
Films. The Tunnel. 2BR02B. What Happened to Monday? Soylent Green. Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: End Game. Inferno. Logan’s Run.
TV episodes, series. Star Trek, “The Mark of Gideon.” Love, Death, & Robots, “The Swarm.” “The Parasite.”
Ideas. Over/population & sci fi are a common combo, post/apocalyptic sci fi in particular. What are the social consequences of population explosion? Government strategies for population control. Solutions often mean extreme policies rather than responsible action. How many people does it take to feel like we have too many? Stories that feature overpopulation are almost always set in cities. Could people (such as the wealthy) rig population control systems for their own benefit? Population burden has been a conversation for decades at least, centuries even. Stories about population control always involve monitoring systems. Population is a conspicuously absent topic from mainstream lit and cinema. Americans are particularly uncomfortable talking about population control. Advocates of population control are often portrayed as villains. Sci fi is rife with races that consume and ravage resources. Those races are not usually us. Dr. Lynn Margulis - humans are ambulatory weeds. People think they have both right and responsibility to have big families. No one ever thinks their kid will be a serial killer or a human leach. Supply chain, toilet paper, and quality of life.
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. The scale is less applicable … a little hmmm, a little wtf.

Previous episode: Stephen King, “The Jaunt”
Next episode: R.A. Lafferty, “Encased in Ancient Rind”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/