Chapter 4 Summary

Chapter four is preceded by a page titled "2025," bearing a brief quote from Lauren's developing book, Earthseed: The Books of the Living. In this quote, Lauren suggests that intelligence can speed up the act of evolution, which otherwise can take generations of survival of the fittest. However, if intelligence is either mistakenly or willfully used wrongly, it can result in unbridled acts of procreation and death.

The second quote, which is the epigraph of chapter four, states that a dupe of God may become God's co-worker and eventual molder of God, but if one is afraid, one may become God's toy or quarry.

Saturday, February 1, 2025. A three-year-old, Amy Dunn, sets a fire in her family's garage. No one is hurt, but the garage is destroyed. The neighborhood has a fire plan, which works perfectly in this fire. The plan is in effect because...