What becomes of the world when nature is just a distant memory?
What is our relationship and responsibility to the past?
Who do we become when we lose this connection?
‘Forest 404’ is a fascinating audio book/drama series which asks such weighty questions. Originally released as a podcast on BBC Snouds [sic], it’s being released for purchase on January 21st, though you can still find the original podcast here and elsewhere, for now at least.
The series considers our ties to nature and what happens when they are severed. In the future world of the drama, a cataclysmic event has taken place. The ‘slow times’ of our present are gone and forgotten, replaced by the ‘fast times’.
Pearl Mackie (of Doctor Who fame) plays an archivist who trawls through data to free up more virtual space, which is at a premium. She encounters recordings which carry significance for us, such as audio of a Barack Obama speech, which she callously identifies as unknown and therefore irrelevant before deleting them from existence. In this reality, it’s all about society’s forward momentum and there’s no time to dwell on what came before, let alone stop long enough to miss it. That is until Pam, Mackie’s character, encounters a recording that captivates her, an alien remnant of history that she doesn’t understand, although sinister forces would rather she forget it.
The cast is small, rounded out by Tanya Moodie and Pippa Haywood. The story is narrated mostly via inner monologue and it’s a gripping enough, with satisfying twists and turns, and bucket loads of contemplation. The series is composed of nine episodes of story, with nine accompanying talks from experts on related themes, and nine soundscapes which allow the listener to enjoy some of the sounds of the natural world, the ambient noises which we stand to lose. Each soundscape ominously and symbolically distorts towards its end. The talks cover a diverse range of fascinating issues and act as valuable primers in topics such as circadian rhythms, artificial intelligence and the longevity of trees.
As well as helping curious minds to grapple with the big environmental and technological issues which are only becoming more pressing, there’s much else that interested me about this world. It’s a straightforward existence in which everything is clear cut. The two main characters agree to be friends, citing a specific contract which details the terms of their relationships and makes their expectations clear. A lot has been lost if not discarded in this society and no room has been left for such things as ambiguity, let alone something so spontaneous and sprawling as the natural world. If a clear reason for something can’t be articulated, it has little use.
As I was listening, my mind made connections to recent sci-fi literature such as Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, in which a useless airport is repurposed as a sanctuary and a museum of artifacts. It stands as a testament to the past, though new generations have little regard for these pointless relics. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Cage of Souls also came to mind: humanity is on its last legs, surrounded by a millennia’s worth of innovations that they no longer have the understanding to work. Meanwhile, the natural world changes and adapts to a world which has been critically damaged thanks to humanity’s recklessness.
It’s an intriguing question to me, one that I’ll be wrestling with for a while. What do we become if disconnected from the natural world? Does it matter? Can it be replaced? Will we fight to protect it while we still have the chance?
It’s a depressing listen, offering as it does a eulogy to nature, but there are glimmers of hope. Give it a listen!
For Better or For Books 