Ikle and Annihilation
Just finished Ikle’s Annihilation from Within. Others have already reviewed it extensively; I’m focusing on posting some connections.
First, Ikle’s scenario of an aspiring dictator pursuing a “dual-power stratagem” including the use of covertly detonated nuclear weapon evoked images from the V for Vendetta graphic novels (not to be confused with the overwrought Wachowski brothers film) - though in V the fascist regime didn’t cause the nuclear war.
Second, Ikle’s reference to Nietzsche (”When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you.”) made me think of those prototypical scifi nihilists - the Reavers from Firefly:
Some groups don’t need a strategic logic to try to tear the system down.The darkness. Kinda darkness you can’t even imagine. Blacker than the space it moves in.
— Mal Reynolds, describing Reavers
Lastly, Ikle’s exploration of the dynamics that would follow a system perturbation of a covert nuclear detonation has a lot in common with Barnett’s Y2K study, especially how the aspiring dictator could set himself up to play the role of “Answer Man.”
