Thursday, February 15, 2007
The Fear and Hope Paradox in SciFi
It seems to me that one of the key distinguishing characteristics of science fiction literature is its strange and sometimes paradoxical mixture of fear and hope. Let's talk about those ideas in the literature circle books: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Jurassic Park, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Martian Chronicles, and I Robot. Anyone may comment, of course. I'll start. In Androids I see a deep-down fear that there is really no difference at all between man and machine. When you come right down to it, says the author, it's impossible to tell them apart. Even given super advanced technology, is there a point at which machine development can stop. (Remember, what looked like science fiction 50 years ago is now reality.) What do you think makes a human human? How hopeful are you for mankind's continued existence? Let's hear some chatter out there, scifi class (and others, of course).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I am on page 40 in Jurassic Park, and I really like it so far. I think it's really interesting. In the movie, they go to a place with the dinosaurs. But in the book it seems like the people don't know anyhting about it. The only cases they have talked about in the book are in Coasta Rica.
yes, its a great book. but other than picturing the characters, get the movie out of your head, the story line is way different.
I have finished the Martian Chronicles and it seems to me that most of the SCI-FI books have an underlying theme that denotes the eventual fall of man. Not only does man fall he takes multiple paths to falling in every different adaptation. Be it by God, Technology or other means.
Interesting about the fall of man. I see many that offer some hope for man, but then all my years as a Star Trek junkie have influenced me. Clearly Rodenberry had hope for the future of mankind. I'll have to ponder this idea in terms of the lit circle books. It could be one of your discussion threads this week.
I am almost done with Jurassic Park, it's really good. I think it's way different from the movie. I think I even may like the book more than the movie!
Post a Comment