"The Last Garbage Man of Earth"
by Thomas Markovski, Popular Dynamics
Isaiah Galt was certainly a genius, which likely contributed to his being anti-social. Being granted an audience with the man meant journeying into his world. To begin such a journey, one had to leave the safety of the green world, and enter the vast regions of a twisted metal jungle. At the border—which is fair to say, as the Galt Scrapyard is a veritable country unto itself—a visitor would be greeted by two men, the cheer of their broad smiles contrasting with the ruthless thermal rifles they held at all times. A thorough screening would be performed, with items of a seemingly random nature being confiscated (to be returned safely on your departure).
From the entrance, an ancient automobile (one which presumably still burned fossil fuels) would carry visitors into the heart of the yards. The driver shared with the guards the same peculiar grin and light hearted manner that ought to belong to the green cities of the contemporary age, but were noticeably vacant upon returning home. As for the mode of travel: it had its peculiarities which were exhilarating, but also had the raw danger factor that makes one wonder how man ever survived without computer piloted vehicles.
At the heart of the yards was an enormous industrial complex. The sights and sounds and SMELLS were unlike anything on the rest of the Earth. In the absence of UWG regulations, Galt and his army of freelance workers had apparently found that they could tolerate a great deal less comfort than the standard of the rest of the world. And though you might think this description is of a third world country, struggling for industry, you would find at its core the most advanced array of technology on Earth. It was as though freedom from government intervention and not freedom provided by government intervention had actually birthed innovation, as if the oppressive obstacles of the untamed world were necessary to foster it. Innovation—a concept which seemed dead in the comfort of the green world—was found alive and well in the most hostile place on the planet.
This was the mystery of Isaiah Galt's genius. It was here at the heart of a hellish wasteland, amid the crushing and the clanking and the reeking, that he conceived what he called the "Particular Reaction." A generic sounding name, whose common use may well have sparked the thought. Galt was an avid reader, and had built a library within the complex where he still housed actual books. Among his collection were not only names that would spark some memory with the common man (like Einstein, Faraday, and Hawking), but also those that are almost forgotten by those who know physics well (like Reimann, Kaluza, and Witten). He also had sections of literature and philosophy, as well as political documents from early American culture. Awash with theory and philosophy, Galt suddenly realized that the particular reaction he was hoping would transform his proverbial lead into gold was not nuclear in nature, but "partic-lear" in nature.
"It suddenly became clear that matter is not make of physical structures the base of which are three main components working together, but of one form which has a tenuous nature. That is, all matter is energy already. It is merely resonating at an unfavorable frequency. The reason that 21st century particle accelerators were largely unsuccessful was not because they were too weak, but because they were too strong. The tenuousity of matter is in direct opposition to the external forces acting upon it. The very act of 'smashing' solidifies the particle's material nature."
- Isaiah Galt, at the Global Science Symposium
Contrary to popular belief, he became a billionaire decades before most of the world knew his name. Granted, a billion dollars isn't what it was when the old American civilization first made its experiment, and granted, most of that constituted enormous holdings of scrap and literal garbage. But Galt was a materialist in the most literal sense. He was called the "last garbage man on Earth" not because no one else handled the world's waste, but because he would take the trash that no one else would. Ultimately, the chain of reusing and recycling ended with him, and he was able to charge large fees by virtue of this fact.
It was the profits from these fees, which enabled Galt to construct his research and development complex. When Galt's company was able to run without him, he retired to the complex, out of the public eye. It was the freedom he was able to provide to honest, ambitious freelancers, which enabled him to build a loyal community around his projects. It was the search for truth that ultimately opened the door in his mind, giving the world the "Particular Reactor," for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
"He has become wealthy not because of greed, but because of his courage, faith, and vision. Courage, because he had the will to fight for independence and control of his property, even when his hoarding seemed insane. The secret to unlock his madness—his genius—lay not in the opportunist profiteering on a world desperate for waste disposal, but in his vision of what those profits would enable him to do with the waste. Mr. Galt believes that all matter can be reduced into energy, and that ultimately he would find a way to transform his garbage 'holdings' into nearly limitless power. A clean power, which he believed would be a greater resource to man than all the 'green' energy of the previous century, and which made all the trials worth bearing. And as we gather here to recognize the greatest achievements of man, so too do we recognize the contribution of Mr. Isaiah Galt to the planet Earth."
- Laura Roentgen, Nobel Prize Committee Chairwoman
Popular Dynamics is a feedsite, devoted to the public interest of newer technology and its culture. Thomas Markovski is a contributing author who has also published a dozen e-books on the subject of contemporary culture.
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