Herbert Smetan – författare

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect refers to the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where minimal changes in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can lead to large differences in a later stage. Beyond the climate sciences, the concept of the domino effect is similarly used as a broader term for any situation in which a relatively minor change is expected to cause significant black swan events. In this context, the simple flap of a butterfly''s wings can trigger tornados in far distant regions. But it was not long before the beginning of this millennium that almost simultaneously and everywhere such butterflies began to swarm. Under these circumstances, the Doomsday Clock appears to have lost its pendulum as its hands spin faster and faster. Any serious problem like this requires a devil''s advocate to hold up the worst-case scenario to the public, so they simply cannot look away. As a former chief executive officer, the author is well aware of the importance of psycho-sociologically driven collective behaviors—no matter the state of affairs. That''s why the novelist focused on the underlying group dynamics with regard to an imminent ecological apocalypse when he plotted the storyline on hand.His protagonist, a man, badly scarred by the suicide of his wife, who wanted to take him with her to the death, fulfils the most ardent wish of his youth and goes on a circumnavigation of the globe on the yacht La Vie—which he reconstructed from a mere wreck. Nevertheless, even in the remotest corners of the earth, he cannot escape himself. On his journey, he meets strong women who lead him back to life. Together they develop an ingenious gambit to save our planet Earth from an environmental doomsday after all—and provocatively hold up a mirror to society. A passionate novel about perseverance and an escape from one''s own failures along winding paths, authentically told by an author who draws on a wealth of life experience. A story that illustrates that every failure carries the immanent obligation to change.

Mit dem Roman »sattgelebt« verließ Herbert Smetan die Welt der Zahlen und wandte sich den inneren Konflikten seiner Generation zu, die spürt, dass ihr Fortschrittsversprechen Risse bekommt. Im Mittelpunkt stehen keine Weltuntergangsszenarien, sondern Menschen – mit ihren Widersprüchen, ihrem Verdrängen, ihrem Bangen und Hoffen.Im vorliegenden Buch »Aus der Stille des Sturms« führt er diese Gedanken auf einer rottenden Jacht vor der Küste Rügens liegend im Dialog mit einer künstlichen Intelligenz fort. Es geht um die Klimakrise, unsere Verantwortung und das bequeme Schweigen. Um die leise Einsicht, dass Technik uns nicht erlösen wird, weil sie nur beschleunigt, was ohnehin schon in Bewegung ist.