“Reset” uses a retelling of post-WWII history contrasted with two alternate histories to highlight the choices that humanity has made to arrive at a moment where regionally and globally humanity lacks the cohesion to address the serious issues that we together confront. By highlighting these divergences, told predominantly through the perspective of Elliott Roosevelt, the son of the great American President of that turbulent era, illuminated is the necessary path towards a more optimistic and kinder humanity which is necessary to overcome our challenges of which the climate crisis is foremost.
In Chapter 1: Rücksetzen, the first timeline, isolationists prevail in the 1940 US Presidential election so that America never enters WWII, thus creating a tripolar world at the end of WWII of post-Nazi Europe, Japan-dominant Asia, and a US-Canada alliance in North America, maintained by a cold war with assured nuclear destruction. Rücksetzen is the closest German translation of Reset highlighting the Teutonic nature of society in that timeline.
The second timeline, presented in Chapter 2: Rementar, resumes immediately before the 1940 Presidential election which FDR won followed then by the 1944 election as WWII is drawing to an end. On 12 April 1945 FDR has a health scare but recovers. FDR leads America through to the end of his fourth term thereby steering the implementation of his full vision for the postwar period.
This second timeline portrays a positive period with greater enlightenment and inclusion leading to vast improvements in societal equality within societies and globally. It is far from a utopia, but it involves kinder and less aggressive societies which are less based on domination and winning, and more on co-operation, inclusion, and open dialogue and thought. As such, pressing domestic and global issues are addressed by political and corporate leaders as they are detected by scientists, public servants, and other observant members of societies. Consequently, societies are more cohesive and it is almost universally agreed that, while clearly we are the most influential species ever on Earth, humanity has attained the knowledge and cultural wherewithal to live sustainably and deal with almost any unknown unknown that might be encountered as responsible custodians of the natural world.
Rementar is the closest translation of Reset in Interlingua, an international auxiliary language developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association, highlighting the internationally inclusive nature of societies in that timeline.
For the third timeline the reader is brought back to 12 April 1945, the day that FDR died, and an honest, non-nationalistic portrayal of global and domestic events is presented. Titling Chapter 3: “Reset” highlights our contemporary challenges and the need to develop a vastly different character to society to place humanity on a path towards a better and brighter future.
Chapter 4: A Future Of Our Own Making; A father and son fireside podcast is reminiscent of the fireside chats that FDR was famous for during the Great Depression. It provides contemporary context to the current social and environmental crises we confront, while providing a parallel to that earlier difficult period.
The father and son discuss how the features in societies that were present in the early 90s – where the timelines finished – have become entrenched. Factors that have caused this, and ways that humanity could be led back towards the brighter path, are discussed in forthright yet warm and compassionate terms paralleling the relationship between FDR and his son Elliott. Topics discussed include; “Global Inequality”; “Capitalism at an extreme”; “Racism and prejudice – personal experiences”; “Corruption of political processes”; “What separates modern capitalist societies from fascism?”; “How have we humans managed to progress through so much division?”; “The best vaccine against crises is social cohesion”; “Quality globalisation”; “bell hooks showed us how to set ourselves free”; “A changing relationship with work and ourselves”; “Revisiting forgotten ideas”; “The United Nations”; “Projects of vainglorious men”; and “Towards a new universal greeting”.
The penultimate Chapter 5: “There is no point in going through all this crap if you’re not going to enjoy the ride”, a favourite quote from a favourite Hollywood movie, draws all of these factors to a conclusion with a challenge to all to lead the political ‘leaders’ to the necessary Reset.
Chapter 6: “Roosevelt Weather” concludes the story of Elliott Roosevelt and discusses the waning influence of the Roosevelt family in American and broader human society.
On MacroEdgo the complete “Reset” story is available for download in a Word document.
Available to download in toto also is “Reset”: The Movie Treatment which tells the same story in the same fashion but is condensed especially in the “Remantar” timeline and in the “A Future of Our Own Making: A father and son fireside podcast” to be presented to members of the movie industry with the aim of the story being made into a trilogy.
Text Legend
Historical record
Alternate history
Future
Reset: Chapter 1 – Rücksetzen – Next
Reset: Preface and Acknowledgements – Previous
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