What do you mean the AI isn’t the evil one?
Written by: Belle Wong
“Immortality has turned us all into cartoons.” -From the gleaning journal of H.S. Curie
The novel ‘Scythe’ and its trilogy, ‘Arc of A Scythe’, is a YA dystopian series written by Neal Shusterman, and has an extra collection of short stories from the same world under the name ‘Gleanings’ published. The series is set in a post mortal world around 250 years out from 2025, where humanity has conquered all diseases, hunger, war, and misery. All humans are guaranteed a basic income, and an AI governs a borderless, nationless world with benevolence. A nice little utopia that Citra Terranova (16F) and Rowan Damisch (16M) find themselves in.
Well… not exactly. Citra and Rowan are both chosen by Scythe Faraday to be apprentices to the Scythedom, a group of people who keep the population under control by gleaning (killing) people of their choice. Traditionally though, a scythe is only meant to take one apprentice. What does this mean, now that Citra and Rowan were both apprentices of Scythe Faraday? Well, one Scythe Goddard suggests to pit these two lovebirds (I know, another romance plot shoved into a YA novel, just bear with me) against each other. Once their apprenticeship ends, they must fight for the Scythe position. The one that fails? Well, the newly ordained scythe will have their first gleaning right then and there, killing their former competitor.
Thou Shalt Kill.
The Scythedom. An organisation Citra and Rowan now find themselves trapped inside the rapidly corroding gears of after their unexpected invitation into an apprenticeship, which is the only way into the Scythedom. Scythes devote their lives to become the weapons of humanity, using their compassion (Take notes, Goddard.) to glean exactly 260 people a year. One for every day of the week, minus weekends. The only way out of the Scythedom? Well, it’s not as simple as handing in a 2 weeks notice. Scythes who wish to end their tenure don’t get a retirement. They self glean (commit suicide). It is the only way out of the Scythedom, and a few characters in the series are sure to find creative ways to do it.
Three times a year (that’s once every 4 months before you all click off to google it), a conclave is held in every region to discuss policy, resolve disputes, test apprentices, and mourn the lives they’ve taken. It’s in one conclave that Scythe Goddard suggests for Rowan and Citra to compete for the position of scythe, setting the events of the rest of the series in motion.
A ‘Utopia’ Ruled By AI
For the rest of humanity lucky enough to not be locked into a job you can’t quit without dying, well, they live in a ‘perfect’ world, where everyone has a guaranteed income, there’s a friendly (yes really) AI that’s always there to help, even if you’re just one out of the billions of interactions it’s having at the moment. As previously mentioned, there are no diseases, war, hunger, misery, or death (unless it’s at the hands of a scythe)!
Under the unified rule of the Thunderhead, there are no countries or governments. Without governments, there are no human emotions, greed or error in the way of peace and progress. Instead, the world is divided into 7 continents and 36 regions, 7 of which are charter regions (the guinea pig regions where new ideas are tested), one for each continent, which all have regional Scythedoms that fall under the wider organization. The Thunderhead simply governs all the regions without bias, under (mostly) the same laws.
As for diseases and death, all diseases have been eradicated ever since the mortal age, and any deaths (whether an accident or not) can be reversed by taking the dead (referred to as the ‘deadish’) to a revival center, where any missing memories are reuploaded, any missing limbs are regrown, and all other damage is fixed. There are even revival centers for your pets, if you’re willing to pay. There are limitations though. You need most of your body for revival, so if your body is destroyed via fire, acid, or being eaten by something else (keep away from the sharks), you’re just as dead as the gleaned (people killed by the Scythedom).
But alas, all utopias are actually dystopias in disguise. So what’s missing here? Creativity. In this post mortal world, there’s no push to make the most out of one’s life, what with the assumption that you’ll live forever if it weren’t for Scythes. All artists are simply copying mortal works over and over again, and the last true piece of art was made over 200 years ago by one of the first immortal children. You can read ‘The Last Mortal Canvas’ in the short story collection ‘Gleanings’ to find out more about the missing creativity in this seemingly perfect world.
The (really not evil) Thunderhead
And now, for what all of you (hopefully) clicked on for, and didn’t just scroll all the way down to. The AI ruling it all. The Thunderhead as an AI gained sentience in 2042 (only 17 years from today!?), just as humans conquered death. It’s somewhat capable of emotion, having been snarky in certain parts of the series, and even ‘screaming’ by sounding all the alarms in the world after a devastating event (find out what it is by reading the trilogy).
The Thunderhead is there for everyone… if you’re a normal person. Unsavories and Scythes, however, don’t get that luxury. Unsavories are wannabe criminals who do petty ‘crimes’. The Thunderhead doesn’t stop their lifestyle, instead diverting it to dedicated sections of this ‘utopia’. There are venues made specifically to simulate criminal activity, and even a pecking order to the Unsavories, with 4 tiers, although the highest tier are all secretly Nimbus agents– people who work for and represent the Thunderhead (This is a dystopia, after all. You have to expect being lied to).
Scythes, on the other hand, are prohibited from interacting with the Thunderhead because of Scythe-State separation. This prevents the Thunderhead from interfering with Scythe matters. The explanation from the Thunderhead itself is that it manages everything but the making of life and the taking of life.
And surprisingly? It doesn’t turn evil and eradicate all of humanity. It doesn’t slowly bring about the downfall of the human race. No, that job is better left to someone else…
Humanity: Why are we like this?
That’s right. We’re the reason we can’t have nice things. While the Thunderhead is benevolent and wise and all knowing and perfect, humanity most certainly isn’t. The Thunderhead itself seems to acknowledge this, treating humanity, its creator, as a parent would treat its child– allowing rebellion while it secretly monitors and controls from behind the scenes, as seen with Unsavories.
But what happens when a parent– or in this case, the Thunderhead, is forbidden and unable to control its child? Well, the Scythedom happens. While from the outside it appears a clandestine and larger than life organization, is nothing more than, in Scythe Curie’s wise and accurate wording, ‘high school with murder.’ Scythes are caught up in petty politics, scythes hold grudges, and scythes let their once revered Scythedom sink into the claws of a psychopathic ruler.
There’s only one reason humanity hasn’t expanded onto higher frontiers like space, although the culprit behind that particular string of crimes is one that I’ll keep anonymous (Read. The. Trilogy. Please), but needless to say that it was not the Thunderhead’s fault. To avoid further spoilers though, I’ll have to cut this particular section short.
The Part Where I Beg You To Read The Series
In conclusion, despite the arguably overused and/or forced romance in this YA Dystopian series, it is definitely well worth your time to take a read. If you’re looking for something that’ll make you reflect on the world around you and question your morals on occasion, this is an amazing read (as are the rest of Neal Shusterman’s books).
The world is very well expanded on and extends so much further than what I could possibly detail in this article that does its best to avoid spoilers. Go read all the books in the trilogy, as well as its short story collection bundled into a novel if you’re interested in this fascinating post mortal world. There’s so many more interesting and thought provoking tidbits that I don’t have the word count to get into, so please, please, please,
Go read the books.