Week 12

"All those religions -they contradict each other on every other point but every one of them is filled with ways to help people be brave enough to laugh even though they know they are dying"- Heinlein

Week 15- Final Paper

The board game of Battlestar Galactica does not fall in to the category of science fiction solely because it is an adaption of a science fiction show. It is science fiction because it explores and poses the same questions all works of science fiction do. The genre of science fiction explores many themes such as dystopia, disaster, and war, among others. Science fiction differs from other genres that explore these same themes, as it tends to explore these themes within a philosophical framework. Recently a few classmates and I got together with our professor and played the Battlestar Galactica board game. The game consisted of one of us being a cylon and sabotaging the rest of us humans who were struggling to survive amidst planetary disaster all the while being presented with crises. While playing the game, as characters of the television series, much like the characters in the science fiction stories “Inconstant Moon” and “Robot Dreams”, we used the defining human trait of hope as a means of surviving. Both the game and the television show converge the topics and themes of the stories, namely “Planetary Disaster” and “If Robots Are Slaves, Can Logic Be Freedom?” by placing humans in a battle for survival against robots amidst the loss of their homes and moral and ethical dilemmas.

In the introduction to her book “The Left Hand of Darkness”, Ursula Le Guin states what she believes characterizes a work as science fiction; namely a thought experiment. She writes that science fiction begins with a question or a situation and “is supposed to take a trend or a phenomenon of the here-and-now, purify and intensify it for dramatic effect, and extend it into the future” (p.1). Science fiction is asking “what if?” and taking to maximal levels while the details express truths about humanity that are present in any circumstance. The Battlestar Galactica show asks a similar question to Isaac Asimov’s story “Robot Dreams”, namely, “If robots are slaves, can logic be freedom?”. The story examines the question of whether or not artificial intelligence is a threat to humanity and the show answers this question in the affirmative and explores the consequences of this. The game, however, explores the theme of “Planetary Disaster”, similar to Larry Niven’s story “Inconstant Moon”, about two people on the West Coast coping with the end of the world. The game forced us to ask examine how we would survive by posing “what if” questions, and Niven’s story demonstrates the various coping mechanisms people use to survive.

Interestingly, some aspects of the game mirrored the show as real life began to emulate fiction. For example, the hidden cylon within the game was the character of Guise, who gained our trust and then betrayed us, much like his character betrays everyone in the show by not revealing that he is responsible for the security breach. The constant theme present while playing the game was hope, when Guise was revealed as a cylon, when riots began, when we were imprisoned in the brig, and as our supplies and moral steadily dropped, we consistently searched for ways to escape, hoping for a win for the humans. Likewise, in the show, Captain Adama, admits to doubting the existence of the elusive planet Earth, yet maintains the importance of hope. In contrast, the characters in Niven’s story, when faced with “Planetary Disaster”, at first accept their fate peacefully; “And I was free. For me there was no more consequences Tonight I could satisfy my dark urges, rob, kill, cheat on my income tax, throw bricks at plate-glass windows, burn my credit cards”. The end of the world is seen as a ticket to licensed anarchy. It is only later that they start to hope they can survive and start searching for ways they can do so. Hope it seems, is an inescapable human trait, in much the same way that logic is seen as a robotic trait. As illustrated in “Robot Dreams”, as soon as LVX-1 is fitted with a brain that mirrors a human brain, he begins to hope. When he is questioned about his dream he explains; “I saw that all the robots were bowed down with toil and affliction, that all were weary of responsibility and care, and I wished them to rest.” (p.94), he begins to hope that robots have a better life than the current one. The losing of his robot logic leads to his destruction as Calvin follows that science fiction formula of extrapolation to conclude that logic is what keeps robots shackled and hope is freedom.

                              

          Although the surrendering of robot logic leads to Elvex’s humanity, as a result, it also leads to him turning against humanity and to seek allegiance with his own kind. Similarly, the cylons in Battlestar Galactica band together in a war against humanity. In Elvex’s dream he states that he says “Let my people go” (p. 96), clarifying that “his people” were robots. Comparatively, the cylons see themselves as separate from humans, they are fueled by a desire to destroy the human race, willing to chase them down for thousands of years. The cylons, like Elvex, have disregarded Asimov’s First and Second Law of Robotics and only kept the first half of the Third; “A robot must protect its own existence” (p.94). In contrast, in “Inconstant Moon” the characters form an allegiance in order to survive, however, it is one that is opposed to a planetary disaster and not another species. There is a need for a shared experience in the face of disaster, to distract each other. The characters in Niven’s story use each other for this purpose; “I forgot the moon and the future when Leslie put her heels against the backs of my knees…” (p.223), using sex and companionship as coping methods. During the game, allegiances were formed as well, as humans bonded together to help each other in various crisis’s, using our skills to help the other. Moreover, the cylon tried unsuccessfully to form an allegiance with the other cylon in the game, often beseeching him to help her destroy the humans.

The experience of playing the Battlestar Galactica game differed from the experience of watching the television show in many ways, one of which was how invested we were in the result of the game. Whether cylon or human, we wanted the game to end in our favor. It was as if the very fate of our respective species lay in the outcome of the game. Watching the show and reading the stories were engaging activities but in a different way. Reading and watching are both voyeuristic in a sense, we can see it and we can sympathize with the characters. We can root for the characters to survive planetary disaster in “Inconstant Moon” and empathize with LVX-1’s struggle in the science fiction battle of humans versus artificial intelligence. However, nothing we do will change the narrative of these stories, playing the game, while similarly made of the familiar themes found in science fiction, made us the storytellers, the shapers of the story. In a radio interview on the Bat Segundo Show, physicist Michio Kaku explains that science fiction and science experience what he calls “cross-pollination”, they both inspire the other. In playing the game we became the characters in science, extrapolating and asking the science fiction question “what if”. Additionally, like the characters, we formed allegiances and hoped for our species survival. Perhaps we did these because we are human and were merely playing a game, or maybe we were emboldened by the characters of our science fiction game, one inspires the other.  

Completed Cyborg

Finally, my cyborg is complete with everything it needs to function.

Week 13

“All the names are still in the hat, Ben. Self-aware man is so built that he cannot believe in his own extinction….and this automatically leads to endless invention of religions. While this involuntary conviction of immortality by no means proves immortality to be a fact, the questions generated by this conviction are overwhelmingly important…whether we can answer them or not, or prove what answers we suspect.”-Heinlein 

Week 11

“It is better that men should never come back” said the penner. In its way, it was a revolutionary statement.”- Aldiss

Week 10

“Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is about eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. Democracy’s worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents-a depressingly low level, but what else can you expect?”-Heinlein

Week 9

“A government is a living organism. Like every living thing its primary characteristic is a blind, unreasoned instinct to survive. You hit it, it will fight back.”- Stranger in a Stranger Land

Week 7

“We think of this as our contribution to the making of a world which is varied and cherishes variety, which is free and cherishes freedom, and which is freely changing to adapt to the inevitable needs of change in the twentieth centuries to come, but a world which, in all its variety, freedom, and change, is without nation states armed for war and above all, a world without war” – Oppenheimer, War and the Nations

Week 8

“When I got up that morning I felt it was one of those days when you should press your luck. One of those days when something terrific might happen.”- Donald C. Johanson and Maitland A. Edey

Week 6: Woman on the Edge of Time

In the novel Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy depicts how the medical system is complicit in eradication of female autonomy and the dangers of that. Throughout the lives of the women present in Connie’s life, medical decisions are made by the men. While at times they may be happy with these men, ultimately, it seems as if their lives get worse as they lose more and more of their freedom. The novel is set up to show the gradual loss of liberty that begins when one gender is given the freedom of autonomy within the medical field and one is not.

Piercy wrote this book during the second wave of feminism, in which the feminist movement focused on disputing the various laws and ideals concerning woman’s reproductive rights, domestic violence, and sexuality. All of these issues are integrated in Piercy’s novel in which the present day characters struggle for their autonomy. The dangers of lack of autonomy are illustrated in Connie’s and Dolly’s dependence on men for their happiness. Dolly relies on male pimps to provide for her and in return gives them her obedience. In contrast, Connie relies on men for her emotional well-being, remembering all the times her life was pleasant when she had men in her life. However, it is important to note that while they both rely on men for their happiness, men are usually the cause of the maladies in their lives. By placing the responsibility of their contentment in other people, they lose the authority of their own autonomy. All of their happiness is contingent on men, and as a direct result, all of their sadness is too. It is therefore little wonder that in Luciente’s world monogamous relationships are seen as destructive as when Luciente explains to Connie; “People of your time confuse me, for they seem neither strongly inknowing nor strongly outgoing. Except in couples. Unstable dyads, fierce and greedy, trying to body the original mother-child bonding.” (Piercy, 117).

The choices in both Dolly and Connie’s lives are made by men, the choices of whether they keep their children, whether they have freedom, and how they are medicated are all made by the men in each of their respective lives. They do not have the option of choosing, in contrast, in the short story Options by John Varley, set in the future women, like men, have the freedom of choice. This story set in a future where it is easy for men and women, through medical procedures, to slip into other genders or alter the sexual characteristics of their gender, yet, gender roles are still prevalent in society. The focus being Cleo’s husband’s discomfort with her sex change, in a future where gender is apparently fluid, males are still the decision makers. When Cleo goes to inquire about experimenting with her sex she is told by the attendant that her husband’s uneasiness is to be expected as the process usually “brings out castration fears in men who didn’t even suspect they had them.” (Varley, 5). It seems as though even within the bounds of science fiction, where anything is possible, gender equality is not. Is it any wonder then that Connie cannot comprehend a future within which women no longer need to fear men? Piercy writes about a women in the 1970’s having difficulty conceiving a world where women are safe in their daily lives, she writes that Connie “imagined herself taking a walk at night under the stars. She imagined herself ambling down a country road and feeling only mind curiosity when she saw three men coming toward her” (Piercy, 201). Yet, sadly these fears are still an active part of women’s daily lives in 2014.

Additionally, in the novel, any freedom allowed is contingent on men. All of the doctors performing the procedure, the doctors who declare Connie unfit as a mother, Geraldo, Luis, make decisions regarding women’s health. After Connie attacks Luis and is taken to by him to be institutionalized, her pleas and cries of innocence do not matter, Dolly’s and her bruised and battered bodies do not matter. Luis’s battered face, however, matters a great deal and is a crucial detail that allows him to commit Connie as “Man to man, pimp and doctor discuss her condition, while Dolly sobbed.” (Piercy, 11). A woman who attacks a man is rendered incapable of functioning in society while men are not held to that same standard. Additionally, all of the patients chosen to participate in the experiment are female with the exception of Skip, a gay man. The only ones allowed the privilege of autonomy in society are heterosexual males.

The way in which Marge Piercy chose to end her novel, with Connie’s medical records, leaves the reader wondering if Piercy wants us to believe that Connie has seen the future or if she is indeed delusional. All of the reports in the medical records begin by stating that Connie is a “35 year old Mexican-American Catholic women” (Piercy, 372-376), and based on them, it seems plausible that she is schizophrenic. However, Piercy leaves the reader doubting whether to trust the medical files as they have come to know Connie. The story follows a woman who struggles to free herself from the decisions made by the men in her life. Her brother Luis, her partners throughout her life, her nieces pimp, and doctors all come to the conclusion that she is not a well woman. By telling this story from Connie’s perspective, Piercy demonstrates just how difficult it is to live without autonomy.

Week 5 Cyborg

My Cyborg is halfway to being complete as I continue to explore the philosophy of science fiction.

Week 5

This week instead of the usual quote from the various science fiction readings, I've written a short fictional dialogue set in a dystopian society.

I sat at the table, waiting. It was not an anxious or impatient waiting.

I knew she was coming home.

She was allowed to go to work today, that meant she wasn't one of the ones that had been taken away, she wouldn't be one of the disappeared.

Five hours later when she walked into the apartment I was still sitting at the table. There was no where else to be, nothing else to do but wait.

"They took everyone who didn't have any assignments for today, it was all of the OTHERS" I said as she sat down across from me.

"The streets, the building, I didn't see anyone on my way home".

I nodded, I figured they had emptied the city of them.

"What should we do?"

"What is there to do?"

I idly picked at a splinter sticking out of the wooden table, I was scared to look up, scared of her reaction to what I would say next.

"When do you think they will come for us?"

"What are you saying?!" she exploded in anger. "They won't! We aren't like them! Look at us! Not a dark hair on us! Our skin is white, our eyes are blue, we are what this country needs, we have the right genes! There weren't just taken away for no reason,our city is being cleansed of them. Soon there won't be anymore of their genes contaminating everything. This is only the beginning, all beginnings are hard, it will get better soon. It will get better once they are no longer a problem. We are not them!"

"There was a time when they weren't THEM either".

Week Four

"It means both building and destroying machines, identeies,catogories, relationships, space stories. Though both are bound in the spiral dance, I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess". -Haraway

Week 3

"I am impartial to all degrees of madness"-Bukowski

Week 2

“I don’t like feeling that there is anything I can’t be”-Cleo/Leo/Nile 

I think this quote in particular spoke to me besides for the obvious reasons that no one wants to be made to feel like they cannot be something they want to be,but also for what it represents in Cleo's struggle against imposed gender roles. 

Week 1

“Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves”- Carl Sagan