practical one’s obvious.”
Obvious it was, he had to concede. Men needed to work, not out of economic necessity any more but for the sake of work itself. Still a man had to wonder….
He had begun to visit the Public Library Archives, poring over musty references that always led to maddeningly frustrating dead ends. For the past century nothing really informative seemed to have been written on the subject.
“You must have government authorization,” the librarian explained when he asked for older references. Which, naturally, made him add a little suspicion to his already large dose of wonder.
“You’re tampering with something dangerous,” Marie warned. “It would make more sense for you to take long-sleep pills until the work cycle picks up.”
“I will get to see those early references,” he said through clenched teeth.
He did.
All he had needed to say at the library was that his work in sociology required investigation of some twentieth century files. The librarian, a tall, gaunt man, had given him a speculative glance. “Of course, you don’t have government clearance…. But we get so few inquiries in sociology that I’m willing to offer a little encouragement.” He sighed. “Don’t get many inquiries altogether. Most people just can’t stand reading. You might be interested to know this—one of the best headings to research in sociology is Conspicuous consumption.”
Then it was Wendell’s turn to glance speculatively. The older man, around a healthy hundred and twenty- five, had a look of earnest dedication about him that commanded respect as well as confidence.
“Conspicuous consumption? An odd combination of words. Never heard of that before. I will look it up.”
The librarian was nervous as he led his visitor into a reference booth. “That’s about all the help I can offer. If anything comes up, just ring for me. Burnett’s the name. Uh—you won’t mention I put you on the file without authorization, I hope.”
“Certainly not.”
As soon as he was alone he typed Conspicuous consumption into the query machine.
It started grinding out long bibliographical sheets as well as cross-references to Obsolescence, Natural; Obsolescence, Technological; Obsolescence, Planned, plus even odder items such as Waste-making, Art of and Production, Stimulated velocity of. How did such disparate subjects tie in with each other?
By the end of the afternoon he began to see, if only dimly, to what the unending stream of words on the viewer pointed.
For centuries ruling classes had made a habit of conspicuously wasting goods and services that were necessities for the mass of men. It was the final and highest symbol of social power. By the time of Louis XIV the phenomenon had reached its first peak. The second came in the twentieth century when mass production permitted millions to devote their lives to the acquisition and waste of non-essentials. Hart’s twenty-second century sensibilities were repelled by the examples given. He shuddered at the thought of such anti-social behavior.
But a parallel development was more appealingly positive in its implications. As the technological revolution speeded up, devices were superseded as soon as produced. The whole last half of the 1900’s was filled with instances where the drawing board kept outstripping the assembly line.
Hart remembered this last change from early school days but the later, final development was completely new and shocking to him. Advertising had pressured more and more people to replace goods before they wore out with other goods that were, essentially, no improvement on their predecessors! Eventually just the word “NEW” was enough to trigger buying panics.
There had been growing awareness of what was happening, even sporadic resistance to it by such varied ideologies as Conservative Thrift, Asocial Beatnikism and Radical Inquiry. But, strangely enough, very few people had cared. Indeed, anything that diminished consumption was viewed as dangerously subversive.
“And rightly so!” was his first, instinctive reaction. His second, reasoned one, though, was less certain.
The contradiction started to give him a headache. He hurried from the scanning room, overtaxed eyes blinking at the rediscovery of daylight.
Burnett walked him to the door. “Not feeling well?” he inquired.
“I’ll be all right. I just need a few days real work.” He stopped. “No, that’s not why. I’m confused. I’ve been reading crazy things about obsolescence. They used to have strange reasons for it. Why, some people even said replacements were not always improvements and were unnecessary!”
Burnett could not completely hide his pleasure. “You’ve been getting into rather deep stuff.”
“Deep—or nonsensical!”
“True. True. Come back tomorrow and read some more.”
“Maybe I will.” But he was happy to get away from the library building.
Marie was horrified when he told her that evening about his studies. “Don’t go back there,” she pleaded. “It’s dangerous. It’s subversive! How could people say such awful things? You remember that Mr. Johnson around the corner? He seemed such a nice man, too, until they arrested him without giving a reason… and how messed up he was when he got out last year. I’ll bet that kind of talk explains the whole thing. It’s crazy. Everyone knows items start wearing out and they have to be replaced.”
“I realise that, honey, but it’s interesting to speculate. Don’t we have guaranteed freedom of thought?”
She threw up her hands as if dealing with a child. “Naturally we have freedom of thought. But you should have the right thoughts, shouldn’t you? Wendell, promise me you won’t go back to that library.”
“Well—”
“Reading’s a very risky thing anyway.” Her eyes were saucer-round with fright. “Please, darling. Promise.”
“Sure, you’re right, honey. I promise.”
He meant it when he said it. But that night, tossing from side to side, he felt less certain. In the morning, as he went out, Marie asked him where he was going.
“I want to observe the preparations for the Preliminary Rites.”
“Now that,” she grinned, “is what I call healthy thinking.”
For a while he did stand around the Central Plaza along with thousands of other idlers, watching the robot dump trucks assemble the piles of discarded equipment. The crowd cheered loudly as an enormous crane was knocked over on its side.
“There’s fifty millions worth out there!” a bystander exulted. “It’s going to be the biggest Preliminary I’ve ever seen.”
“It certainly will be!” he said, catching a little of the other man’s enthusiasm despite his previous doubts.
Preliminary Rites were part of the emotion-stoking that preceded the Highest Holy Day. Each Rite was greater and more destructive than those that had gone before. As tokens of happy loyalty, viewers threw hats and watches and stickpins onto the pile just prior to the entry of the slaggers. What better way could be found for each man to manifest his common humanity?
After a while doubt started assailing him again, and Hart found himself returning almost against his will to the Library Building. Burnett greeted him cordially. “To-day’s visit is completely legal,” he said. “Anyone doing olden time research is automatically authorized if he has been here before.”
“I hope my thought can be as legal,” Hart blurted out. “Well—that was just a joke.”
“Oh, I can recognize a joke when I hear one, my friend.”
Hart went to his booth, feeling the man’s eyes measuring him more intently than ever. It was almost a welcome relief to start reading the reference scanner once more.
But not for long. As the wider pattern unfolded, his anxiety state intensified.
It was becoming perfectly obvious that many, many replacements used to be made long before they were needed. And it was still true. I should not be thinking such thoughts, he told himself, I should be outside in the Plaza, being normal and human.
But he could see how it had come about, step by step. First there had been pressure from the ruling echelons, many of whose members only maintained their status through excessive production. Then, much more
