Cause Versus Symptom

What is the difference between a cause of an apocalypse and a symptom of the apocalypse? We can start with The Children of Men. It is difficult to say what is the cause versus what is merely a symptom. However in PD James' novel we can try to tease out the different strings. We see in the novel evidence of social apathy, greed, and pride. I am using what are known as the "7 Deadly Sins" for convenience. Which of these can be attributed as causing the apocalypse and which are merely symptoms. Cause and effect. In the novel, the apathy is a condition of the apocalypse brought on by greed and selfishness. When Theo is reflecting on the world before the discovery that the human race was barren, he implies that it was mainly himself and his cousin Xan that were so apathetic. The rest of the world still has emotions and seems to attempt civility. True the Council of England says that the crime rate was high however that does not mean that people have stopped caring. It is the greed and focus on the self that is what leads to the struggle for power and then when the people's selfish and individual needs are assured, the apathy comes in. People stop caring about each other. They move without touching. There is no love but the lower crime rate suggests that there are less negative emotions as well. The one thing that does not go away is the desire for power and focus on the self. It was what was there in the beginning and what remains at the end. The apathetic response is just a response to the loss of hope brought on by an awareness that the world is not going to change and gaining material possessions is ultimately useless. The world has to learn to live and think in a different way, without the focus on fleeting material wants.

In Oryx and Crake, it seems to be much the same. The world is racing inexorably towards some sort of a change as the Compounds fight and compete for resources and knowledge. The desire for more, more sex, more alcohol, more knowledge, more power, more money, more patents and genetic monsters, more, more, more! The population becomes more complacent and continues to buy and pay money for the security and technology. They accept the pigoons, the rakunks, the wolvogs, the ChickenNobs, all the ways that humans tried to gain power over Nature itself. Greed and Gluttony and Lust and Pride and Envy and even Wrath or Sloth. People in the Compounds have what we assume are clean golf carts that they do not have to walk around the campuses, porn and sex run rampant, the Compounds are jealous of each other and compete for the technology, addiction seems commonplace and are fed regularly, no one seems content with merely what they have, there is fierce competition for the best schools, and there are aspects of revenge evident in Crake's motive for unleashing the Red Plaque that eventually envelops the world. Sloth, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, and Pride can all be attributed as off-shots of the same Greed from The Children of Men. Without the desire for more, Lust, Gluttony, Envy and Pride would be dead. There would be no competition and no one would need to feel Pride or envy for another's Pride. There would not be over-indulgences. It is the race toward power and control again that brings out and feeds the other Sins and the negative aspects for which Crake decided to destroy humanity. Greed the cause; destruction, apathy, gluttony to effect.