The Nightmare Life Without Fuel : Summary and Question Answer

 

The Nightmare Life Without Fuel

[The World Energy Crisis]

Background of Writing the Essay:

(Americans are so used to limitless energy supplies that they can hardly imagine what life might be like when the fuel really starts to run out. 

So TIME asked Science Writer Isaac Asimov for his vision of an energy-poor society that might exist at the end of the 20th century. 

The following portrait, Asimov noted, "need not proved to be accurate. It is the picture of the worst, of waste continuing, of oil running out, of nothing in its place, of world population continuing to rise ....)

Short Summary: 

As the title itself suggests, the essay deals with one of the major problems of the contemporary world. That is, the fast consumption of the fuel resources and the future fuel crisis. The writer has tried to picture the future of the world, when we will have consumed all the natural and traditional resources of fuel such as diesel, petrol, coal, firewood , kerosene oil etc.

The whole world is run by different resources such as petrol, diesel, water, wood, etc. The writer says that people are likely to face serious problems due to the shortage of fuel. We cannot imagine this world without fuel. We should not  think that fuel crisis will only make transportation difficult,. This will have its effects in almost every aspect of our lives. The life will be full of struggle without fuel resources. 

Many people claim that they will have new resources invented. Of course, new resources such as nuclear energy and solar power have been discovered but they are very dangerous and also expensive in use. So such resources are out of reach of common people. 

There will be difficulty in transportation . This will not only hinder us from  going from one place to another, but also it will make it impossible to transport food from one place to another. The effect will be that people of one part of the world will die due to starvation, and malnutrition, where as there will food available in other parts of the world. Due to the lack of proper balanced diet, there will  problem of human brains. Children will be deprived of proper nutritious food leading to malnutrition. There will be more and more cases of permanent brain damages. More people will have to be given mercy killing.

The same thing will be applied to medicines too. Due to lack of transportation people of one part of the world will not get medicines, whereas in other parts of the world some (only remaining) medicines will be available.

People living in suburbs will be affected very badly. Their entire existence depends upon autos (transportation). For every little thing they have to depend upon big towns and cities. Due to the lack of transportation they won't be able to visit cities, and thus even their basic minimum needs will not be fulfilled. In this way, their existence will be in danger.

Security forces will also be affected badly. Due to lack of fuel, no transportation for them too. No factories, no weapons too. No modern scientific weapons will be made. Without weapons, military forces will be purposeless. Only some very strong countries will be able to exercise military power. Even those countries won't be able to operate them.

There will be a complete joblessness. It will be very difficult for people to provide for even basic needs. Machines will be replaced by animals and human muscles. Gradually, we will return back to the age before 1800, when fossil fuels were not known to the people. There will be any scope for leisure, or entertainment. People have to do more and more manual work. 

Work, sleep and eating will only be three works in that situation. And among these three too, the last one will have no guarantee.

In short, the world will not remain a comfortable place to live in when there is complete fuel crisis.

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Some important question-answers:

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fuel crisis ?

Answer: In the very beginning, I want to make it clear that there is no advantage of fuel crisis. But, however, the writer has mentioned some advantages of fuel crisis.

 The first advantage is that the air will be clearer and cleaner and there will be no air pollution. Similarly, other types other types of pollution will not be there. People will have fewer colds. There will be no vehicles in the streets. People will walk freely. There will be no dangers of road accidents. 

Parks will be full and people will communicate more frequently. There will be less crimes and police men will be back to their beats. 

There will be a complete peace in the world. Only America and Russia will have some airplanes, ships, and tankers. But even those countries will not be able to use them because of fuel crisis. 

People will have fresh air outside  their houses. People will use things like sweater, blankets, etc. They will complete their daily activities in the day time and by the evening, they will talk together and go the bed earlier. 

On the other hand, there are innumerable disadvantages of fuel crisis. First of all, scientific progress will stop totally. Factories will be closed, and there will be full unemployment. 

There will be no transportation .As a result there will be a total lack of different products in the market. People of one part of the world will die out of hunger where as there will be food supply in the other parts of the world. 

Medicines can not be produced, and the remaining medicines can not be transported from one part of the world to the other parts.  In those countries, where there will be a lack food , thousands of people will suffer from malnutrition. Many of them will have permanent brain damages. In many places and in many cases patients will have to given mercy killing. 

All the activities of the world will come to an end. Machines will have to replaced by human muscles and animals. In short all the scientific progress will stop and human civilization will go back to the time before industrial revolution.

2. In Asimov's essay, what will happen in the rest of the world as America will struggle without fuel ?

Answer : The writer presents a very dismal picture of the rest of the world when America will struggle without fuel. There will be no means of transportation in most of the countries.  In that case, people of one part of the world will not get anything to eat where as there will be food supply in some other part of the world.

 Naturally many people will be starving in many parts of the world. Perhaps not more than one out of five will have enough to eat. There will be a high rate of infant mortality. Due the lack of food, there will be more and more cases of malnutrition and permanent brain damages. Many such people will have to be given mercy killing.

3. What does the does the author mean when he says "the suburbs were born with the auto, lived with the auto and dying with auto" ?

Answer: People who live in the suburbs have many problems. In one word we can say that their entire life depends on autos for every little things. For example, food, medicines, books or other commodities. They depend upon autos because they bring such things from towns or cities with the help of autos. In the case of total fuel crisis, there will be no autos to carry food and other things from town or cities. In that case they will be face to face with death.

4. What does the writer mean when he says "Legs are king in the cities of 1997" ?

Answer : This essay is all about fuel crisis.  It was originally published in the Time Magazine in 1977, portrays America in the late 1990s, when the existing fuel resources have reduced. This will bring a big difference in the lives of people. With extreme fuel crisis there will not be means of transportation. No vehicles will be on the roads.  

At present, as we walk, we have to be careful about vehicles, give sides to them. Otherwise , there is a danger of road accidents. Main streets are for vehicles, and footpaths are for pedestrians. 

 With extreme fuel crisis there will be no means of transportation. No vehicles will be on the roads. People will have to walk and walk for going to different places. And then people won't have to walk through footpaths, they can walk through main streets, without any danger of any vehicles. Thus "legs are kings".

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(Source of Background of writing this essay: Time Magazine // All Images ; Google Images)