Reader's Choice

As this course comes to an end I really feel like I have an in depth understanding of Sci-Fi as a genre in literature. This has caused me to have even more of a love of these works which is saying a lot! I originally took this class because I had enjoyed a few books that fell into the futuristic dystopian area of Sci-Fi, I loved The Twilight Zone, and my dad had always been a huge fan of the genre.

Due to the fact that we haven’t covered this particular sub-genre of sci-fi and it was my dad’s favorite, I chose to pick Time Travel as my Reader’s Choice Topic. I think that time-travel is a super important aspect of Sci-Fi. Although it wasn’t really popularized till H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” in 1895”. Authors then started to explore the idea of technological time travel. This caused a “boom” in time travel literature around the 1950’s.

Some of the common themes that are exemplified in time travel over and over again are:

-Changing the Past/Future: This can be to create a positive outcome or reverse a negative one

-The Future Protectors: People who must protect the past and future from other travelers who might change it

- Unintentionally Altering the Future: People will change something in time that causes detrimental effects on the future.

I chose to read three short stories for this presentation, “All You Zombies-“by Robert A. Heinlein, “The Skull” by Philip K. Dick, and “A sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury. These three stories show all of the classic themes in time travel that I mentioned before. I of course go more in depth of these themes in my presentation.

Below I attached the video I used of some classic time travel clips in my presentation. I hope my class enjoyed!

 

 

Lessons Learned

“The Premature Burial”- Edgar Allen Poe

The medical condition that Poe describes in this story sounds very similar to a coma. Do I believe that people just naturally fall in and out of comas? No, that would be highly unlikely. For someone to completely drift out of consciousness without a pulse or any signs of life for weeks maybe even months just seems to far-fetched to be real. One could not sustain life (hydration and nourishment considered) throughout this period of time without a feeding tube or a catheter. But, this is fiction and I’m sure in a sense that Poe was just “stretching the truth”. Although the part about the batteries giving a “shock” to the pectoral muscles, that is a very outdated version of the common defibrillator!(you know, the thing they use when doctors yell “CLEAR” and shock you with paddles”. I thought that this was super cool! I had no idea how far back this medicine dated and it was awesome that it was featured in a piece of popular American literature.

“The Monkey’s Paw” – W.W. Jacobs

This story explores themes that are very common in the sci-fi genre today. Similar stories and ideas are explored in pieces such as “Button, Button”- Richard Matheson (1970) and “Genius of Christianity” – François-Rene de Chateaubriand (1802). The story is very clearly supernatural due to a few occurrences. 1. Whenever the Monkey’s Paw is wished upon, it twists and slivers in the user’s hand. This would not be scientifically possible due to the fact that it is mummified and not connected to anything. 2. Whatever wish you command, will come true. The means how they will is up to the Paw. This story goes off of the idea that objects cannot just come out of thin air. The time continuum must be altered in order for the wish to be granted by “realistic” means. 3. At the end of the story there is a VERY STRONG hint made to the reader that alludes to the fact that the White’s son has come back from his grave becoming the “living dead”. 4. The story’s element of supernatural interference is once again confirmed when the reader is lead to believe that Mr. White used his final wish to send his son back to the grave. I do not believe that there could really be a secondary explanation for these occurrences that does not include the supernatural. Sure, the machine accident could have been fate or chance. The knocks on the door could have been a trick of the mind or just a mouse on the stairs like Mr. White said. But, there is no way to get past the fact that Mr. White SWORE he could feel the paw move when he wished.

 

““The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” – Edgar Allen Poe “The Premature Burial”

Madness and Lost Love

“The Furnished Room”, “The Boarded Window”, & “Berenice”

 

“The Furnished Room” – I think that is story offered a cool aspect of incorporating the colorful lives in New York (I’m assuming). It was cool that O.Henry chose to make the setting of the home in the theatrical district. The housekeeper tells us the various stories of the people who lived in the room before our speaker and how colorful their lives were. Even the little things life behind like the hairpins, the bow, the etched “Marie”. These were all little pieces of people’s lives that were left behind. Clearly O.Henry thought that this city was lively and everyone in it had a story to tell, they all left a small piece of it behind in this room. However we must consider that the housekeeper could have made up all of these stories just to sell the room. But that does make her a colorful person in this city too.

“The Boarded Window”- This story was AWESOME. There was no way that you could read this without getting chills down your spine, especially the last paragraph. I must hold my ground in saying that I do not believe this story had any aspect of the supernatural in it. I think that Bierce specifically set up his reader by mentioning death, an overall eeriness and the rumors of a ghost to take the readers mind there. It was very impressive how Bierce used this kind of literary techniques to turn a suspenseful natural story into a creepy one. At first I did think that this was a supernatural story but there were a few lines in the story that clued me in otherwise. The first real element is when Murlock hears the “child-like” scream. Yes it is a scream of some sort but the story says that it may have been a beast of some kind or even just him dreaming. Secondly, the reader may become startled when Murlock wakes up and his wife’s body is no longer there. Although this was concerning, in the last paragraph it reveals that his life was still living! When he was in the process of “preparing” her for burial she must have still been unconscious from sickness. There are two things that tip the reader off that she was still living, one is that the sash around her wrists were broken and her hands were clasped together. Second, the biggest, there was blood pouring out of her lacerated neck and wasn’t yet coagulated. HINT: DEAD BODIES DO NOT BLEED. Therefore, at the time of the attack she must have been alive! This was no story of a wife coming back to life. A panther had come to consume the carcass of a decaying person, in the process of the attack, the woman must have woken up and tried to defend herself but failed.

“Berenice”- I have to ask, was it common for people to be buried or pronounced dead when they weren’t in this time period? I mean was this just a thing authors explored through literature or did this actually used to happen. I feel like reading Poe is like going over to an old friends house after you haven’t seen them in a while, he is very unique and explores common themes in his writing. Like I said in a previous blog, it is so easy to recognize Poe the second you read it. I have to say that although I love these kinds of stories, the teeth were a little gross, even for Poe. Madness and severe mental illness is explored in this story to a point of obsession.  I enjoyed it as I do all Poe things but not nearly as much as the other two stories for this week.     

“There is a point at which terror may turn to madness; and madness incites to action. With no definite intent, from no motive but the wayward impulse of a madman, Murlock sprang to the wall, with a little groping seized his loaded rifle, and without aim discharged it. “– The Boarded Window, Ambrose Bierce

Hauntings

“The Fall of the House of Usher” – Edgar Allen Poe

There are so many themes going on in this story. The whole time while reading it I couldn’t decide if these events were metaphors or actually happening. Of course because this was written a while ago somethings are hard to understand. For example, why wasn’t the speaker allowed to see Madeline anymore during his stay? Also, why did Roderick say that he put her in the tomb too early? As far as inference goes there was just too much left up to chance for me that I’m not sure if what I was assuming was correct. That being said, I do absolutely love this story as I do most of Poe’s work. There was definitely a recurring element of sanity being questioned in this story. At first when Roderick said he was going to parish in this state of mind to when he when he was full blow crazy rocking back and forth in the chair. I thought it was a really nice literary trick how Poe had mimicked what happened in the poems to actually happen in the reality of his story. I think that was when the speaker first got his though “Oh God I need to get out of here”. Then you have to question whether he really saw Madeline at the end or not. Was she real? A ghost? Had he gone mad? Did the house do this to him? This is not the first time that Poe left his readers to consider the possibilities. Also, this story is the perfect cookie-cutter, format, base-line, or whatever you want to call it, for THE haunted house. Although it took almost three pages, Poe hit it spot on. The massive overgrowth around the exterior, the dark echoing corridors, eerie shadows, and the overall feeling of gloom and despair. That would make anyone go crazy.

“Afterward” – Edith Wharton

Afterward definitely corresponds to the “American Gothic” definition. This really entered the world of “suspense” when it came to ghosts. In most ghost horror stories you know the ghost, you see the ghost, and you can tell when it is near. However, in “Afterward”, you didn’t know when the ghost was coming or how it would present itself. It is much more suspenseful, it’s the kind of story that makes you read sentences twice and think “wait what just happened?” Also, you can’t really say there is a “haunted house”, the home does not conform to the expectations of a haunted house other than the fact that we think there is a ghost. The house is relatively normal and average. The real horror in this story comes from the not knowing, and the thought that no matter what happens, there’s nothing you can do to prevent it from happening and it will most likely happen again.

Intro to Horror: Poe

I absolutely LOVE Edgar Allen Poe. I do not think that there is one thing he has written that I don’t enjoy. He is the perfect mix between eerie and suspenseful, just enough madness to convey the idea of horror. Some of his stories are so incredibly unique and disturbing that they make you wonder if he was really crazy or not. He was hands-down one of the most impactful writers of his time and poems such as “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” amongst others are still considered classics to this day.

The amount of symbolism used in “The Raven” is crazy. In just a little over 50 lines, Poe manages to make the speaker appear/become insane, he turns a raven into a devilish figure (but the speaker may this he’s a profit), and he gives us Lenore. At first in the story you already get the hint that the speaker is insane. He hears the knocking and then the whispers but looks out his door to see that no one is there, and then the raven talks which makes us wonder, is that real? The imagery and description in this story makes it very easy for us as readers to make our setting. The whole thing just seems dark, an old den/study with a crackling fireplace, hardly any light because of the darkness outside, when he opens up the door the hallway is so black you can’t even see down it. Poe paints us a very eerie picture. It becomes clear with his increasing madness that Lenore was a past lover, he is mourning his loss in losing her. He becomes more and more obsessed with the idea of her when he gets the idea that she may be trying to contact him or that her spirit may be near. The whole story does a great job of making you become concerned with the speakers sanity as well as feeling grief for him. Poe was very good at introducing and exploring the realm of intensity/insanity and depression with continually keeping his readers captivated.

While reading “Annabel Lee” I cannot help but imagine it being told by an old man on a rocking chair looking back on a time where he experienced true love. I think that the rhythm of the poem makes me feel this way. It rocks back and forth between telling their story and then him going back to reiterating his love for her over and over again. The tone in this poem makes you feel upset and sad for the speaker because this love is clearly something that was taken away from him and he wasn't able to fulfill his love. It seems like he is very depressed and not over Annabel but also has the attitude “Well, it is what it is”. He also had this kind of guard up like he was telling you their story but he would never really get into it or get into the details because that was their love story and no one but them would ever experience something so true. The way that Poe writes along with the rhythm he uses is incredibly beautiful, it is like a song, his words just sort of dance in your head. It would be hard for anyone to not fully appreciate the talent of Poe’s work.

"I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love I and my Annabel Lee;" - "Annabel Lee", Edgar Allen Poe

UPDATE: This past week in class Steven Dos Santos the author of “The Culling” came in to visit us. I haven’t yet written about this book but I will soon because I absolutely loved it. The Culling is an amazing mixture between a perfect dystopian society as well as a demented type of horror. Steven went a little further into the book writing process and some of the challenged he faced. It is amazing to think all of the historical influences that inspired this piece of work (The Nazi Regime, The Industrial Revolution, The story “Sophie’s Choice”). Although these are prevalent influences the story stands alone as its own original piece of work. I think it is one of the more modern YA science fiction stories that I really enjoyed as well as believing that it stayed true to the genre itself.

Fantasy

Recently I watched the movie “Ever After”, produced in 1998. For those of you who don’t know, this is yet another “Cinderella Story” adaptation. At first I was irritated because I thought that I’d hate this story and that it would be just another remake of all of the same stories already done. I must admit that I was happily surprised. Although this was another “Cinderella Story”, it was much different than the others.

There are a lot of fairy-tales that when they were first written, have very dark elements. A lot of people refer to these as “Grimm’s Fairytales” which is true but they were not the only ones to interpret threatening stories. I think that a certain element is lost when fairy-tales are made into pleasant stories with a “happily ever after” aspect. I can understand why people would want to sanitize stories for their children, but these alternative cute and fluffy fairy-tales are very unrealistic. One of the bigger ideas behind writing fairy-tales was to teach children lessons and morals in an entertaining way. These original stories show you what can happen if you make bad decisions or trust the wrong people. I think that is really important for children to understand. We should encourage this rather than encourage stories that diminish women’s worth, and tell you that you can’t do anything on your own.

Just because fairy-tales are cute doesn't mean that they always teach us the best lessons, Beauty and the Beast encourages the idea that we can change people from who they really are, also that you can find your wife by holding her and her father captive. Sleeping Beauty reassures us that if you are ever in a compromising situation, a prince will come and save you. When we break down these stories there are very unpleasant and unrealistic values that we are instilling into kid’s heads. I really don’t think that these tales should be considered as valid examples for today’s youth. 

Gender and Sexuality

I absolutely LOVED this week’s stories. As you can see our topic for this week is “Gender and Sexuality”. This was a very controversial and touchy topic for the years that these stories were published (1966-1972). I was so excited to start this topic because our generation is becoming more liberal and accepting of matters regarding gender and sexuality. I am all for the equality of sexuality, gender, sex and partnership (yes, sex and gender are two different things if you were wondering).  The two stories I had the pleasure of reading this week were “Day Million” by Frederik Pohl, and “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ.

While reading “Day Million” I have to admit I had a tiny smirk or smile on my face almost the whole time while reading it. This story, in my opinion, was told in a very F-you voice. There was so much aggression and for lack of a better word, sass in the tone of what was being said. Although it was slightly abrasive I do have respect for the writer because I was done to grab the reader and say “I will squash any preconceived notion of what YOU think love is”. Now I think the reader didn’t do this to discredit anyone’s opinions of love but to rejoice in the fact that everyone has different opinions of love, so intense and varying that there is no one definition. I interpreted Dora “not being a woman” as one of two things. One, she was being portrayed as intersex (having the physical make-up of a woman including a vagina, ovaries, and breasts but genetically containing an XY chromosome set). Two, neither of them were really “human”, they were mechanically altered, technologically interfered with beings. Possibly that they can’t really be defined as “boy” or “girl” because those terms are arbitrary to humans only.

The second story “When It Changed” brought up an important yet complex biological term “parthenogenesis”. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction. By definition, this is the process of a zygote forming (the beginning cell stages of a fetus) without the fertilization from male gametes (sperm). I wouldn’t bother to bore you with this scientific aspect of the story BUT it is incredibly important considering this is how a society of women has continued to grow on an exponential scale. Aka we DON’T need males for reproduction in this world. I do not mean to come across an extremist or that I think women are above men but hell yea. This is awesome, I do believe women deserve equality and when it comes to making a baby it does require two halves of a whole (pertaining to men and women). But, this is an awesome example of how women can do it without men! No, I’m not focusing in on reproduction, but to run a society, and live comfortably. Either sex can do it, not just men. In this story thought the author kind of made it seem like a whole survival of the fittest, natural selection element came into play which is why the male half of the species had gone “extinct” (a very relative term because I realize they weren’t).This was probably a little extreme. But, the author did hint at the fact that they really didn’t have a purpose the women couldn’t fulfil. I’m not sure if that’s the truth or what I agree with, but I think it was more the message that women could do all of the things that men can do was what you were really supposed to catch on to.  

 "I really do assure you that Dora's ecstasies are as creamy and passionate as any of James Bond's lady spies, and one hell of a lot more so than anything you are going to find in 'real-life'." - Day Million 

"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"/"Total Recall"

I absolutely LOVE both of these pieces of work. Although it states in the opening credits of “Total Recall” that it was based on the story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” I don’t really think that’s accurate. I think it would be better off stated that the ideas for the movie were adapted from the story. I say this because yes, the whole concept of “Recall” and the aspect of him waking up is pretty much the same but, after he leaves the office everything is different. That being said I do think that the story was a little more plausible and realistic than the movie. However, the movie is super cool and I understand that in order to make it interesting and enticing they had to create a more intense plot line. Along with the movie being more interesting, a huge part of those efforts was the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I do think that this was a good call by the writers because he adds this whole other element to the story all together. In the story the man seemed kind of average and plain but you won’t expect that of an ex-secret agent. I think giving the movie some star power and an actor who is pretty bad-ass it made viewers want to see the movie more and like I said add that extra layer of character depth. (Also let’s not forget Arnold’s wild ability to pull of those corny one-liners)

I want to address the notion that artificial memories can be implanted into your mind. To me I think that is highly implausible. The human brain is one of the most unexplained objects in our known universe. We still struggle to do brain surgery to fix little things without messing up a key part of someone’s existence. I’d also like to point out how prominent of a disease Alzheimer’s is right now. Doctors and scientists still don’t even know how the disease is caused directly, why/how it progresses, and how it can be stopped/reversed. I think that it would be an amazing thing to have considering these problems and it would mean huge technological advances in the medical field. I think that if this became a regular, casual thing, there would be a lot of room for error and the risks would be too high. If those risk were reduced I still don’t think I could see the ethical benefit in all of this. I guess it could make people’s lives easier in a way but even then, there is something to be said about real things versus artificial things. I think this is true in all aspects that the original is always better than the artificial. If artificial memories were available, it would not be something I’d participate in.

“He awoke-and wanted Mars. The valleys, he thought. What would it be like to trudge among them? Great and greater yet: the dream grew as he because fully conscious, the dream and the yearning. He could almost feel the enveloping presence of the other world, which only government agents and high officials had seen.” – “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” Philip K. Dick

Computers and Virtual Reality

As you can see we are now entering the realm of computers and virtual reality. This is probably one of my favorite subjects there is. Tons of movies/books have explored the world of virtual reality/computers which can be enjoyed by many age groups. Some examples include, “Total Recall”, “Spy Kids”, “Eagle Eye”, “Ender’s Game”, “The Maze Runner”, and a bunch more. This topic is cool because it can almost always been seen in a negative or positive light depending on your interpretation. Most of the settings and time periods involved with computers/virtual reality exemplify a world that’s much more advanced than the one we live in today. This week I read “Computer Friendly” by Eileen Gunn and “Burning Chrome” by William Gibson. I have to admit before you read the rest of this post that I was way more partial to “Computer Friendly”. Due to that fact this post will probably be more “Computer Friendly” centered and will touch on “Burning Chrome”.

 I think it’s important to say, before I say anything else, that the way “Burning Chrome” started was a total offset to me. I understand that not all short stories start at the “beginning” and that there’s a certain amount you have to infer, but I hate when the author just throws you into the middle without much explanation, especially when the concept is as complex as virtual reality/computers. If you break down the story and try to look at it in its simplest form, it isn’t a bad story at all, the concept was pretty cool and had great potential to be interesting. Although, because of the way it was written and how “computer nerd” it was I wasn’t particularly grabbed by the story. I say computer nerd in a complex, too hard for me to understand way, not in a derogatory sense. I really found it interesting how chrome was portrayed as basically untouchable and impossible to “crack” but Bobby and Jack decided to try and rob her anyways. Also, I think the concept of Automatic Jack’s robo-arm (bionic is probably the proper term) is awesome. My review, or critique (whatever you want to call it), is probably a little bland but like I said I wasn’t all that captivated by this story. I think this concept would be better portrayed as a movie or short film.

“Computer Friendly” was a better narrative than “Burning Chrome” but wasn’t nearly as descriptive. Every story has their own downfall. That being said, I really thought the way both computers and virtual reality were depicted in this story was pretty interesting and original. -I may just think it’s original because I haven’t read anything like it, I’m not sure if there’s anything similar out there-. The whole testing aspect was what I really enjoyed and the way it all worked. I think I enjoyed it because now there’s hope that the future won’t rely on standardized testing that only evaluates your textbook skills. They tested all aspects of the children’s personalities. When Elizabeth originally met Sheena and Oginga, I can understand why she was interested but it was made very clear that she was at a higher level intellectually than they were. Also, I’m not really sure why Elizabeth didn’t realize that they were causing her to get in trouble? Or maybe she did and enjoyed the feeling of deviance? What do you think? Anyways I have to say I was really disappointed and almost infuriated at the ending. I can understand why she was trying so hard to protect Sheena because the thought of euthanasia is pretty awful, especially if you’re seven. I was mostly angry because Chickenheart just let her give up her mind to living in a computer. She was going to do big things in life. Even if that’s not what she wanted SHE’S SEVEN, this was way too big of a decision to make on a whim for someone of any age! This really irritated me, but on the other side of the coin, also the reason why I have mixed emotion, based on the way her mother was living, was her future one that was going to be better for her than the one she chose? I mean her mother barely ate, was essentially a robot, she could move and exist in the world but only in her mind. I don’t know, it’s a hard toss up because then you consider if she would’ve been happier living inside the program. I would really appreciate some input of opinions on this one and how you interpreted it because the topic just seemed so unresolved to me. Hopefully in an update I can provide a better understanding and viewpoint on the subject. That’s science fiction for you.

"What's this, my dear? Do you think you're a timebomb, too?" "I can learn to be a timebomb," said Elizabeth with conviction. And she knew she could, whatever a timebomb was." - Computer Friendly by Eileen Gunn



UPDATE:

Okay so like I said in my comments, I chose to read “Burning Chrome” over again for my update in hopes I will understand the story a little better and can have an appreciation for its writing. I have to say after meticulously rereading and immense help from my class when we discussed the story, I have a whole new understanding. I think the part that amazes me most is the intense and extensive use of metaphors. I mean everything that Gibson wrote was an exaggerated beautiful metaphor for something that was so simple. For example in the very beginning Gibson writes “A silver tide of phosphenes boiled across my field of vision as the matrix began to unfold in my head, a 3-D chessboard, infinite and perfectly transparent.” The only think actually happening in the story at this point was that the program was booting up when they put it in the computer. Somehow Gibson made something so simple into something so beautiful, as he does this throughout the entire story. It’s very clear when you break down the story to its core that nothing all that special is going on. Basically, there is a love triangle who is also trying to get away with a big steal from chrome. There’s nothing all that crazy going on but the way Gibson manages to transforms the words and statements into something beautiful is why this story is special and impactful.

 

Viewing Blog "Mad Max"

Okay so I just want to back track a little bit to the theme of “Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic”. This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch “Mad Max”. This is a pretty good example of the pre-apocalyptic setting. Things haven’t quite gone wrong in society yet but they’re on their way towards failure. As far as my movie critique goes, this movie probably wasn’t the greatest of its time but I’ve heard quite a few people say they enjoy it and that they enjoyed the whole series of movies as well. It takes a little while to get into the action and understand why Max is “mad”. After that climax happens, the movie gets much better and much more interesting than before. In the beginning I think that the shots and characters are kind of disorganized and hard to understand in the way the director/writers had intended.

I just wanted to point out how this story contradicts itself in aspects of scientific probability. There are quite a few injuries encountered in this movie but only a few of them could actually happen. For example, one of the bikers tried to cling on to Max’s Wife’s van by wrapping a chain around his hand and making it wrap around the car. Due to the fact that she is driving away at a relatively fast speed, it is absolutely plausible that his hand would be ripped off (amputated), by the force of the chain attached to the car. However, it is not plausible that his ENTIRE arm would come off. He would most likely have some severe bruising, a muscle tear, or even a tendon tear but it’s highly unlikely that the entire arm would come off. My other example is the awesome rig that Max creates when trying to kill off the last of the bikers, he essentially creates a miniature Rube Goldberg machine. The probability of this rig working out is high! It is absolutely plausible. However, Max handcuffs the man to a car and tells him that he can either saw through his wrist or wait till the machine works and he gets blown up. I just want to make it perfectly clear that it is highly unlikely that you'd be able to cut through your entire wrist with the saw that max provided. Just to give you an example of how strong bone is, in certain circumstances bone can withstand 19,000 pounds or more which is the same weight as about 4-5 pick-up trucks. Yes bones break everyday but, these bones don’t break because of force, they break because they twist or are manipulated in an unnatural way. It would take a lot of work and physical manipulation to be able to saw through bone, not to mention the mental ability to be able to saw off your own! Basically, I’m just trying to say that is it totally implausible that this biker would even have the chance of sawing through his own bone. There’s quite a few more examples of these kinds of things in this movie but overall, most of the injuries, like all movies, are just exaggerations of the truth.

The most important part of this post is “How does this relate to science fiction”. Well, like I said it is a part of an almost/partially apocalyptic society. The apocalyptic society is represented in the desolation of the areas around them. Also, by the strange behavior that people exhibit and never worry about getting in trouble. Although this movie is apocalyptic I don’t really think it was intended for it to be in the future. I say this because of the older cars and motor cycles, along with the clothing and style of houses featured in the movie.

Artificial and Post-Human Life Forms

Someone asked be yesterday, given the choice between aliens or A.I which would you rather encounter in a threatening setting? I said A.I. all the way. He seemed to disagree. Often when people think about A.I. they assume robots, which isn't necessarily incorrect. The reason why this assumption can be a problem is because robots were frequently used in 80s, 90s and 2000s movies such as "Terminator", or "I, Robot" which didn't exactly have the best special effects. Although, these robots were made to be seen in a potentially harmful or vicious light their underdeveloped graphics didn't help their efforts to be taken seriously. Also, a lot of people believe that we can just "turn off" machines, or take them apart, to destroy them. I believe that those people are vastly underestimating the possibilities of A.I. If you've read science fiction involving A.I, their abilities are endless and far beyond that of human. This to me is what makes it frightening.

This week I read "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss and "Reason" by Isaac Asimov. I think pairing them together gives the reader a good understanding of how A.I can be threatening, but also not threatening. These stories both show different ways that A.I can change our future as humans.

In "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" the idea of artificial intelligence is passed very lightly. The author makes the reader think that A.I has been nothing but a help to society and Henry's new invention will only help more. I found it really weird at first when David didn’t talk to Monica but she talked to him. The first red flag for me went off when Teddy told David that there were both “real”. This leads you to assume one of two things, 1. Teddy is overriding his technology and starting to gain a sense of identity (which seemed more probable) or, 2. David isn’t real. You come to learn that the latter option is the truth in this case. That was the nice Sci-Fi ending that made you have a moment to think “Well that’s freaky”. It is kind of nice that the computers weren’t really the “bad guys” in this story, but they were still the problem. The story shines a great light on how having even more technology can make us antisocial, inhumane, or all together lonelier people. I think this is a great projection of the direction the world is headed today. I think that technology is a great help and convenience to a lot of the things that we do today but at some point it has to stop. There is an organic beauty in the world around us, but one day we won’t notice because we’ll have holographic roses? This story to me is a good warning sign of what the world may become. We have to take these things with caution.

 

"Reason” by Isaac Asimov was about the other aspect of A.I., robots. QT had become too smart for the two scientists that built him. The part I found really interesting about this was that QT used a bunch of reasoning to create facts and conclusions that weren’t necessarily correct, but it is what he believed in. QT even had the scientists doubting their own facts and thinking that the robot may have been right. This to me is why A.I. is so scary. QT had completely taken over the other robots on the ship and the main control room. Although you cannot help but to think that QT had been on the right track when he perfectly aimed the beam at Earth. I think it was important to understand that it didn’t matter what QT believed as long as he was doing his job correctly and efficiently. This is a concept that can be applied to all jobs on macro and micro levels. When it comes to business and impersonal work, it shouldn’t have to matter why you do something as long as it gets done the way it is supposed to. I know that some people will probably disagree with me on this and argue that passion is important in your line of work and to get things done right, I understand that. But that being said, I want you to think about school. For 12 years of your life that is your job, getting up and going for 7-8 hours a day, not to mention the extra 2-3 hours of homework. Just because you don’t LOVE school or just do it because your parents tell you to, that doesn’t mean you can’t manage straight A’s. My point is that it took a while but eventually the scientists realized that it was irrelevant if they disagreed with QT or didn’t believe what he did, they all worked together to complete a common task.

 

“The answer stopped her dead. Why waste time talking to this machine? Why not simply go upstairs and scoop David into her arms and talk to him, as a loving mother should to a loving son? She heard the sheer weight of silence in the house, with a different quality of silence pouring out of every room.” – Super-Toys Last All Sumer Long, Brian Aldiss

Update: So we spoke in class about why Monica wasn't able to love David in the way that a "real" mother could love her "real" son. An interesting interpretation that a classmate and I came up with was, that you can "love" your car, but eventually it will die, then you will love a new car. If you have a child, and they die, you cannot just have another child and replace the love that existed before. People are special and not able to be recycled. David was a robot, essentially a working collection of parts, regardless of his feelings. Monica couldn't appropriately love David because he wasn't a living breathing boy. This reminded me a lot of when I learned American Sign Language (ASL). In ASL the meanings are very literal. So you could not really "LOVE" Intimate things. There were two different signs for the meaning of "love", one you used when speaking of objects, food, activities etc. (basically non-living, unemotional things. The other love, you would use for people, and animals. I thought that was a really important lesson of love and applies to this story perfectly because there are two different kinds of love, love is not equal in all things.

Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic

I am Legend, Armageddon, 1984, World War Z, The Maze Runner, The Stand, the titles go on and on for books and films that exemplify a world in terror. The coming or aftermath of an apocalypse is a common theme in many story lines that has been done time after time. Authors and writers choose these settings because they have skepticisms and predictions of what will come of our society. These idea have revolved around, extraterrestrial intervention, war, disease, and even zombies (how original). There is a common aspect in almost all of these stories that human society completely breaks down and turns against itself. I think this expresses a strong conviction that the human race is considered potentially destructive and unable to function under high pressure situations. I'm pretty sure that no matter what year you're from or what year these stories were written, these attributes can be found in society always.


This week I read "The Star" by H.G. Wells and "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler. Both of these are AMAZING, I absolutely recommend reading these. The nice part about pairing these stories together is that they appeal to all kinds of readers. "The Star" is much more descriptive, there is very little dialogue and is told from the perspective of looking in on a world and its behavior as opposed to following one person or the story being told from one person's perspective. It adds a nice element to understanding the story. "Speech Sounds" is told about the story of a girl "Rye" and is full of dialogue and a simple but intriguing plot line. It was nice to be able to enjoy two stories of different builds but similar themes.


I did think that "The Star" was a little predictable but for being a story written in the 1800s I guess it's understandable. Although it was inevitable that the star would eventually hit or come close to Earth, it was nice that throughout the story, Wells constantly made the reader ask "Well what does that mean" and "What's going to happen to that". I think it is important to grasp the concept that no matter what level destruction the Earth and the human race faces it is near impossible to destroy them. Just like in this story, I think that humans will always try to rebuild society over and over again, no matter what happens, they will attempt to rescue and restore technology. Also, it was a great touch how at the end Wells added the Martian species and their perspective on what had happened to the Earth. This perspective made it seem like all of the devastating change that happened to Earth was such a trivial and insignificant concept.


"Speech Sounds" was a pretty great story and told a great amount of information for just being a short story. This story falls under my very long list of 'Short stories that should be novels", but I'm sure the story was probably intended to grow only in the readers mind and not on pages. I've read and watched many stories where an artificially created disease diminishes or changes the world's population. This was the first interpretation that effected the understanding and utilization of speech, which was awesome. I think that Obsidian was merely a pawn to this game. It is my understanding that his purpose was to give Rye a reason to live and continue to explore life. Also, without him she would have never met the children. Other than that, I'm not completely sold that his character alone was supposed to inspire a great part of the understanding of the reader (I'm sure people will disagree with me on this). The children offered a great deal of hope to Rye because they could speak and understand speech. She was blindly ignorant to thinking they had any future other than behaving as feral creatures. It was a look for Rye into what the world could be, again a rebuilding of society and starting from 'scratch'.


"'... and indeed the only difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discoloration (supposed to be frozen water) round either pole.' Which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles." - "The Star", H.G. Wells

War and Conflict

In Science Fiction, I've always known that war/conflict, and culture played a part. This is probably my least favorite part of this genre. I appreciate that almost all scifi stories teach a lesson or a moral that should be followed. But honestly, I love Science Fiction because of the fantastical world it can take you to and the wonderful things that can happen regardless of what is humanly possible in our world. This week I read the stories "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril and "We See Things Differently" by Bruce Sterling. I think I have to admit that these are not going to go down in my record books as 'scifi stories I thoroughly enjoyed'. That being said, I will continue with my analysis of these stories.

 In "That Only a Mother" I found it a very interesting literary choice that the author decided to include telegrams only from Maggie, she never included the ones back from Hank, only when he said he was coming home, and one before the baby was born. Obviously, after I had finished the story it made more sense to me why Merril did this. Although I said I wasn't a huge fan of the 'War and Conflict" side of scifi, these kinds of endings are why I appreciate the genre so much. I thought it was amazing (yet strange) how this baby could speak and sing so beautifully, especially at such a young age. But, the second I thought about how abnormal (not in a negative way) this was, I realized that I knew from experience, typically when one sense of the body overly develops, very quickly, it means that there is something wrong with another one. In this specific case, the talent and ability of speech and understanding, advanced because of the lack of touch/feel and movement.

"That Only a Mother" didn't conform to the scifi standard, area and setting wise, especially because it wasn't in the future and there was nothing strange about their society. However, the second that the big "secret" was revealed at the end, a whole new layer of Science Fiction standards were added. Suddenly when you find out that the baby is disabled, it causes you as a reader to think back to all of the things that the mother was saying before, how absolutely sure she was that her baby was PERFECT. You begin to consider if her  blindness to her baby's disability was a shear act of love, or if it was borderline madness/insanity because she wanted so badly for her baby to be perfect. Of course because this is Science Fiction, Merril had to add in the part of Hank saying "Why didn't you tell me" and Maggie responds as if she had no idea of what he meant. As a reader, I couldn't help but be amazed and rather awe-struck at this point because like I said before, I love endings like this.

Aside from the aspect of insanity that was included in "That Only a Mother", there was something beautiful that must be taken into perspective. Regardless of the fact that Maggie's daughter was disabled(I really hate the term mutated, although that was the word in the book) she had unconditional love for her. Maggie thought she was just as beautiful and as perfect, if not more, than any other little girl. I think that this is true for all parents of disabled children. During the time period that this was written (1948) there were so many cases where disabled children were disposed of, or given up by their parents. Even some hospitals would try to starve out the babies and refuse treatment because they were 'an abomination' or 'freaks'. I really appreciated and enjoyed that the author took the opposite view point and spoke about how a mother could and would love her child, and be blind to their irregularities, it was a beautiful concept.

I was really not captured by the way that Sterling wrote "We See Things Differently", I feel like the first 5-7 pages were very slow, the author is very descriptive and thorough with imagery. While some readers may enjoy this, I really did not.Like I said before, it doesn't help that I'm not enthralled with this branch of Science Fiction. That being said, I really did enjoy the lesson that this story was trying to convey. While reading the whole story, the theme behind the title was very clear to see. Because this man had come so far from a completely different culture into American, it was easy to understand why there was a big element of culture shock. I think this story could be applied to society today in more ways than one. There is a huge level of ignorance that a vast majority of Americans still exemplify today. This ignorance is a huge factor behind world conflict, and the lack of sensitivity towards other cultures. I did enjoy that although "Charlie" had been exposed to so many types of offensive, rude, ignorance, he still kept the peace for the most part. In the end he kind of alluded to the fact that everyone has their own troubles and their own ignorance, but man should not judge man of these things because your issues, and your ignorance are what are most important to you. I believe that a lot of this has to do with human instinct an that it will continue as long as humans walk the Earth.

"I finally got to see her! It's all true, what they say about new babies and the face that only a mother could love- but it's all there, darling, eyes, ears and noses -no, only one! - all in the right places. We're so lucky, Hank" - Maggie "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril.


Update: Okay so just a few things I failed to notice while reading "That Only a Mother". I've reread the story since I posted this and had a class discussion. Now that I've reread, it occurs to me much sooner that the baby is mutated. For example, how in the quote I posted, Maggie only talks about her babies facial features. This is a huge red flag, that there is something wrong with the rest of the baby. Also, there are quite a few subtle but clear references to fathers murdering their babies after seeing them with their mutations. It was mentioned how the fathers were never taken to trial with these murders because it was so common and medical oddities were not protected during these years. This is very true and accurate for this time period in history, disabilities were frowned upon and often discarded or overlooked in the eyes of society. Through all of these subtle hints it can be inferred at the end that the father was going to attempt to kill his child. Although this is a very important part of the story and was most likely intended to be assumed, I'm kind of happy I over looked it the first time. I love scifi and a good surprise ending even if it is a little morbid but I think this was a little too dark for my own personal preference.

Alien Encounters

Alright so everything I write is always going to come with a HUGE SPOILER ALERT. Since this is a blog generally analyzing pieces of Science Fiction including literature and videos, spoilers are a given! I truly do recommend reading all of the stories that I talk about because obviously anything I do to try to explain will never be as wonderful as the original work. So, if you are planning on reading any of the short stories I intend on talking about in this post, ("Mouse" by Fredric Brown, "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg, and "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress) do not continue reading. Otherwise, I have warned you and you may continue with your own risk!

Alien encounters are something I've never really believed could occur in real life. In science fiction how ever, my mind has been blown! I always considered aliens to be green martian people who sound like they've inhaled too much helium and probably don't stand much taller than a toddler. A few pieces of work like, "Out of All Them Bright Stars" or even movies like E.T. and Alien (although this was a scarier adaptation) feature something similar to my flawed understanding of aliens. It wasn't until I started to read science fiction piece that I realized aliens could be transient invisible forces that could control your mind and utilize your body. Aliens like this are featured in the short stories "The Mouse" and "Passengers". The more I analyzed this species of alien the quicker I realized - this is absolutely terrifying - .

In "Mouse" I loved the twisted ending, and in "Passengers" it kind of has the same concept of a twist ending, it is just done in different ways. It is apparent at the end of both of these novels that society has taken a back seat and basically fallen apart at the hands of whatever these beings are controlling them. Both of these stories hint at how society was basically falling apart already and that it was inevitable. The characters kind of approach the notion of a crumbling society nonchalantly. They mention things like, 'maybe the society was falling apart anyways' or 'we've always been able to adapt to being controlled'. I think that a lot of people view society today as teetering on the edge of falling apart or crashing all together. I found it very interesting that at the years 1968, and 1949 two authors had an idea of a weak society (both time periods when this thought wasn't often expressed). In both of these novels the "aliens" mentioned were ones who moved from person to person and controlled their actions. In "Mouse" the aliens tried to cause mass havoc that would disrupt the society all together. In "Passengers" all of the humans were aware that the passengers were around and that they consumed the humans minds just to be able to have vessel to live out their own lives. Although this was less destructive it was still overwhelming that a creature could over come your mind and you'd never know otherwise.

I feel like both of the aliens and the situations portrayed in these stories could be adapted as a huge metaphor that the downfall of our society is inevitable and that at any moment we all could be controlled. I understand that this is possibly magnifying the ideas of the authors more than they intended but because of the similar aspects of the two pieces, it is what I've come to interpret.

Throughout all of these stories, a type of control was always the result. "Mouse" and "Passengers", like I said before, have very similar aspects of mind control however, "Out of All Them Bright Stars" has an aspect of control that does not include the conscious mind. In this short story the alien type is more similar to my description of the martian people other than the fact that this alien can talk like a human, seems to be the size of a normal man, and he's blue. The type of control exemplified in these stories is control by the government. It appears that the aliens are out in the open in this world and that the government offers them protection and privacy. It seems that no matter what protection they have,the public is blindly ignorant and in fear unwilling to accept the foreign being.

In all of these stories (and most alien encounter stories for that matter) the aliens are thought of as the enemy and as these terrifying creatures. Sometimes this is true, and they really do just want to hurt us, but other times they're just trying to live their lives or just be accepted. I think its really important to realize how this applies to our lives today. The way that the passengers abuse the human abilities can be compared to the same way we abuse the abilities of species smaller than us (animal testing, animal labor) and the way we do not accept others as ourselves if they are different (birth defects, disorders, nationality) . Humans often have the tendencies to think of themselves as superior and better than all of those who cannot compare. Well, it is possible that the aliens in the story "Passengers" thought the same way, or that the aliens in the story "Mouse" just believed we were a weak link that needed to be terminated. When we can take a moment to change our perspectives in all situations, I think many would be surprised at how much more they understand.

"You really ought to be looking out, Beautiful instead of lying there like a dope, This is a day, Beautiful. This may be the beginning of the end-or of something new. I wish they'd hurry up and get it open" - "Mouse" by Fredric Brown

Update: A student in my class suggested we watch "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up" an episode from season 2 of "The Twilight Zone" series. I absolutely LOVE Twilight Zone, so I had to go home and watch this immediately. I thought it was absolutely perfect in relation to the theme of alien encounters. It was typical in the fulfilling the SciFi expectations. There was an alien amongst the humans that could not be identified, he could blend in well and caused a bunch of strange things to happen with the electronics. This ended up causing all of the other humans to die, also very characteristic of aliens. It turns out he was a Martian who was coming to "check out" the planet for the rest of his people. He wanted to see if it was a good fit to take over! This episode along with seasons 1-3 and 5 of "The Twilight Zone" are on Netflix, I completely 100% recommend them!

Introduction

Hello and welcome. My name is Sarah Gearhart, I'm 18 years old and an aspiring doctor. I've never been an amazing writer, especially when it came to pieces that required more "voice" or "colorful thoughts" . Otherwise, I will try my very best. That being said I hope you can manage to bar any imperfections. 

This is a blog strictly dedicated to the love, hate, and appreciation that I have for the genre of Science Fiction. Ever since I was a little girl my dad had a very strong infatuation for authors such as, Issac Asimov, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, etc. the list goes on and on. We spent many nights talking about the various intricacies of the stories and what it all meant. This has obviously had a profound impact on me; my dad inspired me to be a reader, and another devoted fan of SciFi. 

Not everyone understands why SciFi is so popular or how it has created big followings like the Trekkies, or the  Star Wars fans. Don't get me wrong, I am a Star Trek and Star Wars geek myself but because of it's mass following, bystanders have come to know the science fiction genre as only a Star Trek/Star Wars World. Unfortunately, if people aren't into the concepts exemplified in these shows/movies, they're completely turned off of the genre all together. I think a lot of people would agree with me that SciFi is so much more than that! SciFi (lit especially) delves into worlds containing post-apocalyptic settings, time-travel into the past and present, horror/mystery, and even topics that are popular in modern day society. 

I'm hoping that this blog will help you understand how vast and inviting the genre of science 
fiction can be. 

I think it is very important to mentiion that I cannot, will not, and do NOT, watch horror movies (or anything remotely creepy for that matter). I absoutely will read anything horror, mystery, or suspense related but the whole movie thing just freaks me out! I will try my best throughout my journey of wiriting this blog to attempt watching a FEW horror movies, but I make no promises that I will make it all the way through..

Finally, I am a proud and confident science geek. I love everything and anything science but I have a particular love for human anatomy and physiology. In some of my upcoming blog posts I plan to breifly review the plausibility of certain situations in my future readings/viewings. Of course there is no way for me to prove the actual science so I want to state clearly that any kind of science I try to disprove/prove will be based off of my own scientific knowledge, and personal opinion. 



"The Future Belongs to Those Who Believe in the Beauty of Their Dreams" - Eleanor Roosevelt