JG Ballard really had a thing for the deleterious psychological impacts of "state-of-the-art, planned" living spaces, didn't he? And hells yeah! It is kinda like the scifi equivalent a haunted house novel. What if this living space which was created by "science" to make your life better actually did the opposite because "the fallability of man's prideful ambition"? Let us really focus on the heart of the Tower of Babel story... architecture.
If this book (Super-Cannes) approaches anywhere near the wild and crazy heights (lol pun) that High-Rise did, I am gonna be pleased. The fact this these are his only two hyphenated titles does kinda lend credence to the idea that he intended a connection between them. And the main characters being doctors...
obsessed with ballard basically nailing the psychopathology of musk, bezos et al in super-cannes (2001)
[transcription below cut]
[extract 1]
'We do. We run things.' Penrose spoke soothingly, exposing his badly bitten nails as if trying to present himself as vulnerable but sincere. 'Years ago people took for granted that the future meant more leisure. That's true for the less skilled and less able, those who aren't net contributors to society?'
'Such as?'
‘Poets, traffic wardens, ecologists ...'
Penrose gestured dismissively, and struck my wine glass with his hand. He settled it on the table, embarrassed by his clumsiness, and continued: I’m being unfair, but I know you agree with me. For the talented and ambitious the future means work, not play.’
'Depressing. No recreation at all?'
'Only of a special kind. Talk to senior people at Eden-Olympia. They've gone beyond leisure. Playing around with balls of various shapes and sizes ...' Penrose tripped over his tongue, and paused to flex his lips. ‘That's something they left behind in childhood. Work is where they find their real fulfilment - running an investment bank, designing an airport, bringing on stream a new family of antibiotics. If their work is satisfying people don't need leisure in the old-fashioned sense. No one ever asks what Newton or Darwin did to relax, or how Bach spent his week-ends. At Eden-Olympia work is the ultimate play, and play the ultimate work.’
[extract 2]
'So, goodbye to the old morality. What then?'
'Freedom. A giant multinational like Fuji or General Motors sets its own morality. The company defines the rules that govern how you treat your spouse, where you educate your children, the sensible limits to stock-market investment. The bank decides how big a mortgage you can handle, the right amount of health insurance to buy. There are no more moral decisions than there are on a new superhighway. Unless you own a Ferrari, pressing the accelerator is not a moral decision. Ford and Fiat and Toyota have engineered in a sensible response curve. We can rely on their judgement, and that leaves us free to get on with the rest of our lives. We've achieved real freedom, the freedom from morality.’
