Remembering the Forgotten: What "The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years" Warns About Rapid Innovation
Over the last decade, mankind has overcome the impossible, broken technological barriers, and made strides in innovations. In 2010, the first iPad was launched, revolutionizing and disrupting the definition of what it means to have a portable computing system. In 2012, the Curiosity Rover, the pride of many years of development, touched down on crimson Martian soil, paving the way for a new generation of exploration outside of the limits of the Earth. The same year, Google’s self-driving car received an official license, re-inventing the world of transportation and safety. And to top things off, the world of Virtual Reality entered the homes of thousands through the production of the Oculus Rift, allowing a person to step into a whole new realm of creativity.
However, as people continue to dream of what possibilities the near and distant future can bring, we tend to overlook what’s happening within the past and present. With the production of a new app, a family is less inclined to play their beloved board games. With the launch of smarter game consoles, children begin to play less in parks, but spend more time indoors, fantasizing themselves as the avatars they’re playing as. With the advancement of social media, people are less motivated to drive to their best friend’s house and meet them in person. In Chingiz Aitmatov’s novel The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, the protagonist, Yedigei, struggles with his identity as the customs and traditions dear to his heart erode through the weathering of time. Within the novel, there are many instances of change that time has caused as the rise of industrialization and the space age blossomed to maturity, serving as a beautiful reminder for the reader to contemplate what’s lost and altered in a society built by frequent innovations and new technologies. The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years allows the reader to see first-hand the “changing of the old guard,” as technological advances replace tradition and the younger generation replaces the older ones.
The novel begins with the death of Kazangap, a long-time friend of Yedigei, as people within the remote, Boranly-Burannyi train junction, located in the arid desert of Kazakhstan, plan a funeral for their friend. It is here that Kazangap’s son, Sabitzhan, wanders into the narrative. Sabitzhan is portrayed as being highly sympathetic to Soviet ideals, embracing the New Soviet Man mentality that is most likely fostered from his boarding school in mainland Russia. Contrasted with old Yedegei, someone who is deeply rooted in his Kazhak traditions and cultures, Sabitzhan focuses his attention on the idea of participating in a state-run utopian society through the prevalence of technological feats. Sabitzhan speaks ill of the ancient Greeks for believing in the Mt. Olympus mythos, claiming that the time will eventually come when “it will be possible to control people directly by radio… in the best interests,” emphasizing his allegiance to the new technologically adept Soviet Union (Aitmatov 45). However, the supposedly plausible technology that would be able to control human minds alarms Yedigei and makes him question the principles of “scientists who really dreamed up such inventions and try to control us like gods…” (47). These two views of technological process put into perspective what innovation can bring: on one hand, the loss of free will, while on the other, the creation of an apparent utopian society.
Although mind-control is still a few decades away from reality, questions of limiting free will through technologies have already surfaced in the modern world, just as Sabitzhan has predicted. With the emergence of mass surveillance through the rapid pace of installing security cameras as well as the cutting-edge facial-recognition programs in countries such as China, people’s habits, activities, and habits are carefully monitored, their behaviors curbed to align with the standard set by the State (App). Whether or not one agrees with the use of mass surveillance for the "safety" of the populace, it is imperative to keep in mind that the technologies that herd people are already here. Whichever school of thought one aligns with, both choices would without a doubt, greatly impact human lives, both during the reign of the Soviet Union, as well as in the twenty-first century. The balance between technologies and the preservation of our civil liberties serves as an apt reminder that a stride forward in innovation, if guided down the wrong path, could destroy the basic human rights of mankind. Aitmatov's novel underscores this point.
The prospect of innovating and industrializing too fast, like the mind-control technology mentioned by Sabitzhan, may potentially put many important values in jeopardy, including identity and individuality. Though technology and innovation have gifted many people the access to newer and efficient forms of communication, entertainment, transportation, and more, the cost of the widespread advances in the sciences have also led to processes such as the optimization of assembly lines, the ease of replacing workers, and the loss of individualism. Aitmatov subtly and cleverly draws this point within The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, through the side story of two cosmonauts who make contact with extraterrestrials. When the cosmonauts leave and abandon their space station to explore the new planet of Lesnaya Grud, they write in their departing letter that if they were to ever disappear for good, “it will not be difficult to replace [them]; for there are always people around, who, when needed, will work for no worse than [them] (Aitmatov 61).” This passage defines the metamorphosis of jobs while in the new age of technology: there will always be someone who has the same skills as you and can easily replace you. The loss of identity and individuality due to the technological process through time is further echoed by the fact that the readers never learns of what the names of the two cosmonauts are, identifying them only as “Parity-Cosmonaut 1-2” and “Parity-Cosmonaut 2-1” (62). Even though they have, against all odds, discovered life outside of Earth and have even taken it upon themselves to form a bond with the alien population in order to hopefully learn from them and improve human society, they are portrayed as expendable, as cogs in the system of government and technological progressions.
Upon orders by the Russian and US government to the space station, the crew members are to “not allow the return of former parity-cosmonauts 1-2 and 2-1 to the Parity orbital station, and still less to earth, as people not desirable for the world civilization" (203). In the midst of the current 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, companies all around the world have been rapidly replacing human labor with that of automation to both save on labor costs as well as to decrease human-to-human contact. Firms such as Savioke have already launched robot butlers in hotels to delivery amenities to its customers, while automated check-outs and customer supports are quickly emerging above human employees. At risk are the “How are you doing today?” and “Pleasure to meet you” aspects that make individual human interactions human. Everyday connections between people are becoming more and more the same as beeps on the checkout lines replace conversations, and the feeling of individuality within these jobs, may eventually be lost.
With the loss of individual identity, advancing technology too fast may consequently bring along the loss of entire cultures and traditions. Within Aitmatov’s novel, a major moment in the story concerns the contention between the characters regarding where to bury Kazangap’s body. Sabitzhan, who is exposed to the industrialization and ideals of the Soviet Union, makes a cursory proposal of burying his own father near the railway as Sabitzhan has “urgent and important matters… back at the office…” (31). It is evident that Sabitzhan sees the funeral ceremony and procession as a waste of time since it has no “tangible” benefit to society. Yedigei, along with the few elderly individuals still living at the Boranly-Burannyi junction, has different intentions and curses Sabitzhan for the disrespect to not only his deceased father, but also to their dying culture. This aspect is further driven by the denial of entering the sacred Ana-Beitt cemetery by Tansykbaev, a guard tasked with restricting the entrance into the space center that overlapped the Ana-Beitt cemetery (332). Despite the pleas by all the elderly veterans in the caravan that carried Kazangap’s body to the site, the denial of entrance speaks to the loss of traditions and cultures due to technology. Due to the new space program and the rocket launch near the Ana-Beitt cemetery, Yedigei and his followers end up burying Kazangap on the outskirts of the area they seek to enter, implying that Yedigei is unfortunately forced to forgo his traditional values that he holds sacred to his heart, and he must abide by the new rules governed by the new order’s technological ambitions. Although the myths and traditions that Yedigei holds are fictional, indigenous cultures and traditions dying due to modernization are very much true. According to a United Nations report, indigenous cultures are currently in danger of becoming extinct as more and more natural resources are taken from them for "modern" developments, while their languages are also dying as the emergence and the need for world-wide communications playing an ever more important role in today’s society (“Culture For Indigenous Peoples”). Despite the ease of communication via social media and the development of more cities and settlements, it is imperative to reflect upon what’s being left behind.
Chingiz Aitmatov’s The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years is a book that plays with magical realism in order to allow the reader to reflect upon their own history. Through Yedigei’s experience burying Kazangap’s body, we, as the readers, would hopefully be able to see what’s gained and most importantly, what’s lost in the endeavors to push society forward. In one aspect, the stride for innovation during the twenty-first century has seen the prominence of social media and access to a wide array of information, yet we are at risk from the spread of misinformation and to being influenced into polarizing ourselves into a cult-like mindset, much like the mind-control technologies that Sabitzhan speaks of in his vision of a utopia.
Furthermore, while the advancement of technologies have paved the way for everyone to have access to materials goods like cars, computers, and lamps, behind-the-scenes, there are people working in assembly-lines manufacturing these products for us, losing their personal identity and becoming expendable with each passing decade as new technologies may replace them, much like the treatment of the cosmonauts within the novel by the two governments. Finally, with the release of more and more innovative products such as the Oculus Rift or gaming apps, traditions such as family game night every Saturday or something as trivial as reading books before bedtime, may be forever left in the dusty road of time, much like how Yedigei and his elderly companions are forced out of their sacred burial grounds and had to adapt their lives around the development of a new space center.
The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years is a beautiful book that forces us to reflect on changes in our lives due to the fast-paced twenty-first century that we live in, and my hope, as the author of this essay to the readers, is to have you think about what we did in the past that may have drastically changed in the newer generation, and to have you take a pause from the bustling streets of New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, or wherever you’re located, to take in the small, evanescent experiences before they’re lost to time forever.
Bibliography
Aitmatov, Chingiz. The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years. Translated by John French, Indiana University Press, 1983.
Apps, Peter. “Commentary: China's 'Big Brother' Tech Gives Surveillance New Reach.” Reuters, 16 Oct. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/wu-apps-china-commentary/commentary-chinas-big-brother-tech-gives-surveillance-new-reach-idUSKBN1CL29A.
“Culture For Indigenous Peoples.” United Nations, www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/mandated-areas1/culture.html.
