Will the World Population Be Reduced? An Examination in the Mirror of Cinema and Mythology

"It took a full hundred thousand years for the world's population to reach one billion. To reach two billion, it took a hundred years, and to double again took only fifty years. The population, which was four billion in 1970, is now approaching nearly eight billion."

Eight billion! We are destroying the very things that sustain life. Every global, destructive disease that sweeps the world can be linked to human overpopulation. To understand the mathematics of population growth, just look at the famous beaker example: Imagine a beaker into which a bacterium that divides and multiplies every minute is placed. If you put the first bacterium in the beaker at 11:00 AM, the beaker will be completely full at 12:00 PM. So, at what time is the beaker only half full? At 11:59 AM! That is exactly where we stand right now! In forty years, thirty-two billion people will fight to survive. And they will lose!

The Movie Inferno and the Archetype of the Destructive Savior

These striking words belong to Bertrand Zobrist! The villain of the 2016 movie Inferno, adapted from Dan Brown's novel; a transhumanist, billionaire scientist who wants to stop global population growth. Zobrist's echo on the screen doesn't just offer us a thriller; it holds up a striking mirror for us to experience spiritual transformation and collective confrontation through cinema.

Zobrist continues: "Everything is so obvious; we pollute, we consume, we destroy. Half of the animal species on earth are extinct. And that's just within the last forty years! But we still continue to attack our environment... There have been five major mass extinctions in world history. If we don't take harsh and swift action, we will experience the sixth extinction... Do we really need to experience a disaster to learn our lesson? Nothing can change behavior as much as pain. Perhaps pain will save us!"

The Modern World's Agenda: Innovating to Zero

This on-screen scenario bears an eerie parallel to the statements of real-world leaders:

"First, we've got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That's headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent."

These words belong to the world-famous billionaire businessman Bill Gates, from his speech titled 'Innovating to zero!' at the TED2010 event. Again a novel, again a Hollywood movie, and again an equivalent on the world stage! The common theme in all of them is the reduction of the world population. Is this a coincidence, or are we preparing for something? Or are we living through a massive cycle repeating itself from the past to the present?

Mythological Codes and Collective Memory: The Origins of Noah's Flood

World history is unfortunately full of stories of a punished humanity that fails to learn from its sufferings. When we delve into the codes of humanity's shared past, we encounter these names: Manu, Nama, Deucalion, and of course, Noah.

Noah's Flood is, in fact, nothing less than a population reduction plan executed by the creator of humanity! But what is the essence of this universal story? Let us take a journey through time and space to the true source of the story cinema tells us today: to the Mesopotamia of the 18th century BC.

Time Travel: The Atra-Hasis Epic

Can you feel the scorching heat of the Mesopotamian sands on your feet? Before us lie clay tablets inscribed with the literary works of that era. On these tablets is a poem, and this poem has a hero who sets out on the eternal journey mentioned by Joseph Campbell: "Atra-Hasis" (The Supremely Wise), known as the king of Shuruppak from the pre-flood era in the Sumerian civilization's King List.

This epic poem, written in Akkadian, tells both a creation myth and the Flood, one of three major Babylonian flood stories that have survived to this day. The epic was copied and spread for centuries, which is why the hero's name appears in different forms across various regions and cultures:

• Sumerian: Ziusudra

• Torah and Quran: Noah

• Akkadian: Utnapishtim (The surviving Atra-Hasis after the flood)

The Burden of the Gods and the Creation of Humanity

The epic begins with the gods creating humans to do the heavy labor for them:

• Anu: Ascends to heaven.

• Enlil: Remains on earth.

• Enki (Ea): Descends to the subterranean sea called Apsu.

Enlil creates other lesser gods to dig rivers and carve out canals. But years of hard labor drive the gods to rebellion. One night, Enlil's house (the Ekur temple) is suddenly surrounded. By the decision of the assembly of gods, it is decreed that humanity should be created to take over their work.

The assigned Mother Goddess (Mami/Nintu) mixes the flesh and blood of a sacrificed god with the clay provided by Enki. The gods spit on this mixture, and man is shaped almost like a statue, as the first material of a spiritual transformation.

The First Population Planning: Plague, Famine, and Flood

Over time, however, the number of humans increases drastically. The noise and chaos created by humanity disturb the God Enlil. Just like Zobrist in the modern era, Enlil decides to wipe out this over-multiplying population.

1. First attempt: Plague epidemic

2. Second attempt: Global famine

3. Third and final attempt: The Great Flood

The God Enki (Ea), however, saves humanity from these disasters through secret instructions given to our hero, Atra-Hasis.

Now, looking at today through this mirror held up by cinema and mythology, we must ask the essential question: Where is the Atra-Hasis of today? And when will he take on the mission to save us from the potential sixth extinction awaiting humanity?

What is the Atra-Hasis Epic?

Atra-Hasis is an 18th-century BC Mesopotamian epic written in Akkadian. It tells of the creation of humanity and the Great Flood sent by the gods to destroy the growing human population. It is the oldest known literary source of the Noah's Flood story.

What is the plot of the movie Inferno?

Adapted from Dan Brown's novel of the same name, the film follows the story of Bertrand Zobrist, a billionaire scientist who believes population growth will destroy the world and plans to start a global pandemic to stop it.

Where do the origins of the Noah's Flood legend come from?

The origins of the Noah's Flood told in Abrahamic religions trace back to the epics of Ziusudra, Utnapishtim, and Atra-Hasis in Sumerian and Babylonian mythology. These myths are among the oldest archetypes of disaster and rebirth in the collective memory of humanity.

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