I'm Back

This blog initially began as a college assignment but I've decided to continue sharing my thoughts about science fiction. There are so many talented authors of scifi writing today as well as a multitude of others that have written in the past that are just waiting to be discovered. I've decided that as long as I continue to read science fiction I will also continue to write about what I'm reading. As long as there is an interest for the future and a wealth of young dreamers I'll keep sharing my thoughts on this stuff.

Lessons Learned

     "The Monkies Paw" is an awesome example of being careful what you wish for. You could wake the dead if you're not careful. Or not. The story implies that the son has risen from the dead and has come back to pound on the door but no body is ever found. The story has heavily implied supernatural occurences but all of these occurences can be viewed as mere coincidences. The events could simply coincide with the wishing being done on the monkies paw. The Mother is obviously mad with grief at the loss of her son and this can explain her reactions to everything that happens in the story. However this isn't the point of the overall story. The message of "The Monkey's Paw" is clear, be careful what you wish for. 

     "The Premature Burial" at its root is about paranoia but the condition described within the story is real and has been documented. Catalepsy occured in many people in the 19th century and it paranoid many people living in America at the time. It was common in the 19th century to see graves with bells attached to them just in case the coffin's tenant awoke. The Narrator in the story shared this paranoia and constructs an elaborate grave to make sure he doesn't share the same fate as those who were prematurely buried. The story ends with the narrator realizing that he's been pretty crazy and shouldn't obsess about death so much. This ending leads me to believe that Poe wrote this story to calm the masses.

Hauntings

     "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar allen Poe is a psychological tale of loss and acceptance. Roderick is the last of a dying line which reminded me of a Solomon Kane story called "the moon of skulls." In the story Kane goes searching for a kidnapped girl in Africa and ends up in the lost Atlantean colony of Negari. While exploring the city Solomon comes across the last member of the Atlantean line. He listens to the lament of the last of a dying race. That's the tone of "the fall of the house of usher." The last of the Usher line is slowly wasting away along with his house just like everything eventually succumbs to the forces of entropy. Roderick is kept alive only because of his sister whom he refuses to accept the death of. Once Roderick finally accepts the death of his sister everything finally comes to an end and the house crumbles into dust along with the last of the Ushers. Besides the psychological aspects of the story their are also creepy descriptive elements. The house looks like it has eyes, there's a crack running through it, and the trees around the house are described to have a consciousness about them. Internally the house is dark and enclosed. The description of the inside calls to mind images of cobwebs and flickering lamps. The observer in the story represents all of us. We all had that one friend when we were kids that was a little weird and had us convinced that he lived in a haunted house or something.
     "Afterward" is a different take on the haunted house idea. The house doesn't have ghosts initially, the ghosts are brought to the house by mary's husband. The couple leave America so that Ned can run away from his guilty conscience and live in England far away from the buisiness dealings of America. Elwell however does not want him to get away with what he did so easily and takes Ned away. The story showcases the things wrong with the United States at the time. These things include shady buisness and exploitation of labor. This story is less about the evil that exists within a delapidated building and more about the evil that exists within the human heart.

Edgar Allen Poe

     I think everyone can agree that Edgar Allen Poe is one of the greatest writers of the 19th century if not of all time. His poems and short fiction are timeless and still have a great impact on readers today. His poem "The Raven" is so famous that a sports team is named after it. "The Raven" is possibly the most well written poem ever. The feelings of dread flow from "The Raven." The concept of the finality of death is the scariest aspect of the poem. People today don't seem to understand why the poem is considered scary mainly I think because people today have become so exclusively literal. The Raven says "nevermore" because Lenore is dead and there is nothing he can do to bring her back. She is dead and the narrator will never see her again. The narrator isn't named because the narrator could be any one of us. All of us will lose people we love and none of us will be able to bring them back and they will be lost forever. We'll sit like the narrator by the fire trying not to think of the ones we've lost. Sitting, reading a volume of forgotten lore or watching the television, biting our nails nervously while we focus on the rustle of the curtains or the creek of a door. Trying to focus on anything that will keep us from realizing that it is over for the ones we loved and soon it will be over for us. Scary, huh? At least Orpheus was given a chance, am I right?
     "Annabel Lee" has the same basic premise as the raven which is the sadness that comes after loss but "Annabel Lee" tells the story of how that love came to be. The Love of these two is so strong that even the angels feel envious of them. Of course it all has to end with the loss of  Annabel because it wouldn't be Poe if it didn't. Poe lived this kind of loss so it wasn't a chore for him to write so powerfully and convincingly. Like the Gettysburg Adress, if you lived it it's always more genuine when you write it down.

   

Gender and Sexuality

    The story "Day Million" By Fredrik Pohl is an interesting take on the future development of the human race. Pohl asserts that one day we will have moved beyond the restrictions of gender and become a species that doesn't have any need for conventional reproduction. At our present point as a species our only real purpose in life is to reproduce. Freud saw this and developed his entire method of psychoanalysis upon it. The idea that reproduction is the only real driving force behind human beings makes sense when you really think about it. What other purpose do we all have on this earth other than to make more humans? We certainly didn't get to this point because we dreamed that one day we could all communicate with eachother worldwide through a vast network of interconnected computers and hypertext documents. We got here because there is an innate animal like desire to keep the species going. All other thoughts and dreams are secondary to that primary desire. That being said it is interesting to think about a world like Pohl's where human beings have moved beyond that innate desire to reproduce and can identify as male or female without persecution. Pohl's world is one where like in the case of Don and Dora, one can identify as male and the other as female or vise versa without it mattering to anyone.
     "When it changed" by Joanna Russ is a story that has become cliche over the years. The overwhelming theme in all of these stories is a society of women encounters the first men they've ever seen and chaos reigns. What makes this story a little different is that the possibilty of human parthenogenesis is added to the equation which cuts out any need of men for reproduction. I found that the question posed in this story is whether or not men and women need to exist together. If reproduction is possible in a single gender race then why should bipolarity need to exist? I don't think the author is stating that men don't need to exist. She is only posing the question as to whether men are needed in a society of all women.

Philip K. Dick

     The idea that memories could be implanted or altered doesn't seem to be a complete impossibility. The human brain is a very complex organ but given time I think that we as a species could figure out exactly where these memories are held and how to manipulate that region. The implications of such manipulation would be staggering. If a human being commits a murder and has his or her memories altered to forget a murder was ever committed then how would a jury be able to convict them. If an insanity plea can release a human being from a murder charge than why wouldn't a temporary lapse of memory hold up in court? Entire heads of companies could have their memories altered in the case of embezzlement so that no new information could be found out from bringing them into custody.
      I pretty much feel the same way bout every movie Arnold Schwarzenegger is cast for. I think Arnold is the worst actor on planet earth but his acting is so bad that it's good. He has the personality of fly paper but somehow it comes off so funny that the movie is entertaining. He makes all the other actors in the movie look like they deserve acadamy awards. You'll have a scene like the one where the doctor guy is in his hotel room and he'll have all this emotion trying to convince Arnold to leave the simulation and the only emotion that Arnold can muster is "I will shoot you now." Say it in the Arnold voice it will sound funnier that way.
     Anytime you adapt something that is initially 20 pages or so and turn it into a two hour long movie you're going to have to add content. So that means a lot more chases involving ironside trying to kill you and everyone who's unlucky enough to be riding an escalator at the time. I think in all they adapted the short story to the movie pretty well. There is the time difference from when it was written to when it was produced into a movie but I think we can all agree that if it was made into a movie during the sixties it would be just as cheesy as it was in the eighties.

Darwin Among The Machines By Samuel Butler

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ButFir-t1-g1-t1-g1-t4-body.html

Computers and Virtual Reality

     The idea of uploaded consciousness has been with us since ancient times. From Plato's theory of forms to Descartes' dualism, the desire to leave the body behind and become an entirely incorporeal entity has been the dream of every learned man and woman since the gift of sentience was endowed upon mankind. With the revelation brought forth by the internet some very intelligent people have begun to consider the very real possibility of leaving our bodies behind and living entirely in cyberspace. One of the champions of this dream is Ray Kurzweil whose predictions, though seen as radical by some, may come to pass in the short amount of time that he has proposed. The idea of cyberspace consciousness has been pioneered by men like Philip K. Dick and William Gibson. The stories "Burning Chrome" by Gibson and "Computer Friendly" by Eileen Gunn, though very different, explore the same themes relating to uploaded consciousness.

     "Burning Chrome" is about the illegal aspects that will take form when uploading consciousness becomes a reality. Gibson is known for his dark and gritty take on the future. Much of his fiction is cyberpunk which is a dark and gritty world with very high standard of technology while simultaneously maintaining a very low standard of living. Though Gibson didn't have the foresight to imagine a world where humans lived out their entire lives in a computer he did have the foresight to predict that most of human activities would take place in cyberspace, In this world their will be criminals just like at any other time but the criminals in this time are hackers who steal money online. Chrome is the target for the theft that our two hackers Bobby and Jack are trying to commit. The only issue is that a love interest is thrown into the mix and a third wheel always tends to disrupt the harmony in any operation,

     "Computer Friendly" is a different take on the singularity. The view put forth in Computer friendly is that the future of every human being is going to be decided by machines. The humans that don't fit the particular mold are exterminated in order to make room for humans that do fit the mold. This story is obviously a critic on much of the public school system with its overemphasis on standardized testing and rules that encourage uniformity. The Chickenheart at the end represents the need for diversity in opposition to unification.

Robots Robots Robots

     Robots in science fiction hold a very special place in my heart. Robot stories allow for a unique kind of introspection that can't be done with most science fiction stories. As far back as ancient times  human beings have speculated about creating life and the implications of living alongside artificial beings. It wasn't until 1920 however that Karel Capek gave the word robot to the world. Since the premiere of capek's play "Rossum's Universal Robots," Automatons have been a massive part of science fiction who's most well known contributor was Isaac Asimov. Asimov's anthology "I, Robot" changed everything for scfi. It raised the bar for what was acceptable work and what was not. Later Brian Aldiss contributed to robot stories by writing "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" which impressed Stanley Kubrick enough that he decided to base a movie after the story. Stephen Spielberg would later finish what Kubrick started by producing and directing A.I.
     In Asimov's story "Reason" we encounter the first robot with the ability to think for itself. The robot believes itself to be superior to human beings and does not believe that humans create robots. However the robot is still beholden to the three laws of robotics. The robot claims that it does not take orders from humans yet it does stop the electron storm from hitting the Earth because that is what its programming commands it to do. The robot never violates the second law of robotics. The second law states that a robot must obey all orders given to it by human beings unless these orders conflict with the first law. The first law of robotics states that a robot must never harm a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. Therefore when the robot does not allow the humans to operate the equipment in the control room it is obeying the second law by not taking orders that would possibly bring a human being to harm. The story as a whole however is Cartesian in nature. What is real? Are humans just machines or do we truly have free will? Does the robot have free will as it says it does or is it just carrying out its programming like Descartes said we humans do?
     Aldiss' story is more pessimistic than Asimov's stories are. Aldiss' world is one where overpopulation has cultivated a detachment human beings feel for other human beings. This detachment results in the creation of robots that are more human than humans. These robots keep people company and offer them a sense of companionship. The humans in this world have drifted out of touch and have stopped asking the questions that we used to ask. Questions like where did we come from? How did we get here? Where are we going? Do we matter? Only the robots ask these questions now. The pivotal moment in this story is when the David's owners find out to their jubilation that they are allowed to produce a child. David is viewed as a commodity and nothing more.

Update:

Last class made me think about the development of Artificial intelligence and whether or not it's ethical to pursue the development of A.I. I think that the question to whether A.I. is ethical or not isn't relevant to human progress.Human's move forward with technology no matter who tries to stop them. All cultures that rejected progress in any way were inevitably consumed or destroyed by cultures that did progress technologically. The law of accelerating returns states that exponential growth is inevitable in the universe. That means that ethical or no there is nothing we can do to stop the progression of technology. The only thing we can hope for is the solace that comes with rational and/or benevolent players developing this technology.

Dystopian short story

This is a short story written by a guy named Michael Coney. It's call the True Worth Of Ruth Villiers and it fits into the whole dystopian theme:

http://www.cordula.ws/stories/trueworth.html

Apocalypse and Post-Apocalypse

     "The Star" by H.G. Wells and "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler both tell the story of death and destruction. In "Speech Sounds" the catalyst was a disease where in "The Star" the focus is on a celestial object hurtling towards the Earth. Both stories involve elements that are beyond our control and both stories end with a glimmer of hope.
     "The Star" is about the helplessness the human race would experience if a comet came close enough to do damage to the Earth. The story is one that is told over and over in science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke's novels "The Hammer of God" and "Rendezvous with Rama" both deal with asteroid impacts. Clarke was so concerned with the threat of asteroid impacts that he proposed a system of interlinked satellites called spaceguard to warn of near-earth objects before they could damage human civilization. I think that the appeal of stories about death from space are due to a few things. I think one reason for its appeal is due to our fear of helplessness in the face of utter destruction. In Well's time there was absolutely no defense against objects from space. In the present, chances for defense are a little greater. Regardless, if a massive object were to come close to the Earth we would very likely be as helpless as the people of 1897. I think that the other reason for why these stories are so appealing are due to the egocentric nature of human beings. No one likes the idea of the world still being here after they die. We would rather like to think that the day after we die a giant asteroid comes around and ends the world with us. However the truth is the day after we die some guy's alarm clock is going off and he's going to work. The world just keeps turning.
     "Speech Sounds" is less about the destruction of mankind due to a celestial force and more about the barbarism of mankind finally leading it into a degenerative state, In the story a disease has robbed everyone of the power of speech causing them to become degenerate and aggressive, However, by the end of the story there is hope for humanity in the form of two children who have the power of speech and are not as aggressive as the rest of the human population. The story is about the nature of mankind at present and whether or not we will ever move beyond our natural aggressive tendencies.

suggested reading

This is one of the greatest science fiction stories ever written. You should all read this:

http://hermiene.net/short-stories/i_have_no_mouth.html

War and Conflict

     "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril and "We See Things Differently" by Bruce Sterling both paint a picture of an unpleasant future. Merril's Future was inspired by the absolutely chilling consequences that were birthed out of the development and detonation of the first nuclear bomb. Sterling's future seems to have been inspired by the conflict currently taking place in the middle east at the time as well as the coming collapse of the soviet union. This trend continues in science fiction as writers continue to predict the future by paying attention to current events.
     I'll start my analysis with the story "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril. Merril writes about a world where nuclear radiation has infected the population's gametes leading to mutations in the population's offspring. This type of story is common throughout the late forties. the bomb changed science fiction in ways that made it less hopeful and more cynical. "That Only A Mother" can be compared to possibly the most well known story concerning the atomic bomb, "Children Of The Atom" by Wilmar H. Shiras. In the story a group of mutant children with high level intelligence must hide in order to escape persecution by the rest of the population. However, Merril's story differs from other atomic stories due to her domestic setting. The story deals with how a mother would handle a mutated child. It also explores the threat of nuclear radiation from the perspective of a housewife. This isn't a perspective that is explored much if at all in science fiction of this period. Merril's character Margaret acts uniquely given the situation of her child. She doesn't seem to care or even notice how mutated her child is until her husband comes home and points it out to her. This unique take on the mother's reaction to the effects of the atomic bomb is why this story is a cut above the rest.
     The second story "We See Things Differently" is a later story that takes place in the 21st century. This story instead of being inspired by the atomic bomb was inspired by the conflict in the middle east and the collapse of the soviet union. Sterling interprets these two events as leading to the downfall of the United States and the rise of the middle east into one massive caliphate reminiscent of the Muslim trade empire that existed during the medieval period. Sterling describes the America in his story as a cyberpunk slum where the dollar has plummeted and most of the population is unemployed. He also explores the willingness of humanity to subscribe to the beliefs of charismatic speakers with his rockstar character Tom Boston. The element of this story that I found most interesting however was the conflict between the capricious nature of America's consumerist culture and the obstinate traditionalism of the middle east. throughout the story is the constant reminder that consumerism, greed, and perversion led to the downfall of the United States. I don't necessarily agree with the view that traditionalism is better for a country and consumerism is worse. There are pros and cons for both ways of thinking. Traditionalism is opposed to change and naturally this impedes progress. Consumerism is entirely about change which leads us to forget our values. These perspectives expressed in this story are what make this a very interesting read.

Update: My views on the two stories haven't really changed since I read them. I got new insight into the authors however. Judith Merril sounded familiar to me because I had read her years best science fiction short story collections. I also got more information on Bruce sterling and his ideas about life and technology.

Alien Encounters

     The stories "out of all them bright stars" by Nancy Kress and "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg showcase two different perspectives concerning the hypothetical alien. In "Passengers," the alien is depicted as an unseen invader that latches onto a person's brain and causes the person to act against common social norms. In this story the alien is just a physical manifestation of the rejection of social norms. This idea of casting aside social norms was quite prevalent in the late sixties when this short story was written. The same ideas about refusing to conform to societies standards can be found in the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein. In "Stranger in a Strange Land" Heinlein explores the concept of free love and nonviolence using a child who was born on mars and raised by martians. The novel became very successful and helped start the hippie counterculture of the late sixties; Much to the Chagrin of Heinlein.
    "out of all them bright stars " by Nancy Kress is an entirely different perspective on the alien. The story is an allegory for racism which can be seen in many short stories and novels in scifi. The idea that the alien will experience discrimination and hatred by us has almost become cliche in science fiction. However, Nancy Kress took it a step further and discussed those who aren't hateful and angry but refuse to do anything about the people who are. That aspect of the story kept it from being mundane and made it memorable.
      It is impossible to write an accurate story about an alien of course because we haven't made contact with an alien race as of yet. Nor do we have any real evidence that there is life out there in the first place. No matter how painful it may be we must accept the possibility that space is dead and that this planet is the only one in the universe that supports life. This may not be true and there may be other worlds out there capable of maintaining life but that life is bound to be very different than the life on this planet. We look out into the stars searching for ourselves and I don't believe we're going to find ourselves out there. In the words of J.B.S. Haldane "The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, it is queerer than we can suppose." However science fiction is two words and not one. That last part is fiction and that allows us to speculate on ourselves and create alien worlds that are but mirrors into the recesses of the human soul.

Update:

There are a few things that changed my perspectives about the stories above. One thing that altered my perspective about "Out Of All of Them Bright Stars" was the realization that the main character was a woman. Somehow I had read the entire story without picking up on the main character's gender. I read all of her dialogue assuming that the main character was meant to be androgynous. Knowing now that the character is female makes it clearer as to her feelings about the situation i the diner. My perspective hasn't really changed about "Passengers" Though. I still feel that the passengers represent innate sexual desires within the human psyche. I subscribe to the ideas put forth by Freud and believe that these ideas were represented by Silverberg.

Introduction

My Name is Joey and I have always been attracted to scifi and fantasy. I think the thing that draws people to scifi and fantasy is a need to dream of a better world and to address the problems of our present world. The title of this blog is derived from a line in Carl Sagan's Novel "Contact." Ellie meets a representative from the civilization that sent the signal and the alien says,“You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.” I think that the This quote epitomizes scifi and fantasy. We are all capable of both beautiful dreams and horrible nightmares. Scifi is our escape from the nightmares of this world as well as a stage where the nightmares can be confronted and overcome. I'm going to make this blog about the deeper meanings that are expressed in scifi and fantasy. At the root of science fiction there is science and within science their are two different camps; the unifiers and the diversifiers. Some scientists subscribe to the notion that the universe is infinite. These are the diversifiers. Questions are asked with the expectation that one will acquire more questions. Other scientists subscribe to the notion that the universe is finite. These are the unifiers. Questions are asked with the expectation that answers will be found. By extension science fiction writers fall under these categories. Some science fiction writers believe that human innovation knows no bounds and that one day we will become the gods that we once believed in. Other writers believe that humanity has limitations and that our own vices will lead to our inevitable downfall. These different perspectives make science fiction a wonderful landscape for the expression of ideas and I am going to use this blog to explore those ideas.