LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Sample Student final exams 2007

William Bazemore

Fiction for a Dose of Reality

"It is reported that at 8:50 p.m. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton."  This was an excerpt from the October 30, 1938 Mercury Theater broadcast that shocked the nation into believing H.G. Well’s War of the Worlds had come to life.  This marks the first major emergence of science fiction that sparked the imagination and fear of the future for millions of individuals.  Although the repercussion and reaction was fierce, the idea that there exist another world in the distant oceans of time and space stuck with many of these people.  No longer are we a people whose sole concerns lie in the classics and the present existence but in the hopes, dreams, and fears for our future generations.  Some people feel nothing but excitement while others might feel aversion but the simple truth is the future is coming; like a ball of blue hydrogen gas shot from a gun.  It is up to us to decide how we will react.

A conflict is approaching; one between those factions who have found happiness in their current existence and those who yearn for something new, something almost mystical, something…more.  This conflict becomes most apparent in the narrative, The Onion and I.  In this future vision, the narrator comes to experience the unpleasant sensation of existing in both the virtual and physical realities.  Near the end of the story, the narrator has a breakdown of sorts because he tries to define himself in the standards of opposing realities.  If he did only exist in the virtual realm, he wouldn’t know of the existence of physical reality and therefore wouldn’t be burdened with the question, “Am I a real boy?”  This is because in the standards of his virtual reality, he is “real”.

Being intrinsic creatures, we have the ability to recognize certain truths in our existence; one being that we do in fact live in reality and that our existence is absolute.  So the narrative gives us the question, “Can the word boy be defined in more than one way?”  We can even go deeper in questioning our reality by asking “Is the sky blue?” or “Can we walk on water?”  Without any absolute truths to define our reality, we will become lost to any foundations of existence.  Because of this I would say that we can only be defined by the standards of one reality.  Which reality that will be only time can tell.

Not all questions on human existence come from the emergence of Virtual Reality but also from the current trends or blending biology with technology.  This is not so much a future vision but an actual reality we live in.  Even today we live in a world of prosthetics, piercings, and biological manipulation.  The narrative we find the most of this cyberpunk story Johnny Mnemonic.  I believe William Gibson’s gritty, neon filled way of writing best portrays our current pop culture’s love affair with cold metal and genome warriors. In this story Johnny is a data smuggler who stores information in a brain implant.  He also meets a female bodyguard who sports a genetically enhanced body with blade implants in the fingers and a cyborg dolphin who breaks encryption.  With any of these characters one must ask at what point, where the flesh ends and the machine begin, we cease to be human and become something “else.”  Remember that only about two percent of genetic material separates us from chimpanzees.  Does this mean if we change ourselves another two percent we are something else entirely.  Although this will be an issue for future generations to resolve, I believe that these variant being can find acceptance in human society because there is a heritage and living characteristics we all share.  But what of those who don’t share any relation with us, be it body, origin, or mind.  If we have these issues with pseudo aliens like cyborgs, what of our possible relations with extra terrestrials?

If there is one important thing in developing a relationship, be it between lovers, friends, or species, communication is the key.  Communication is also dependant on these two group’s or individual’s ability to relate to one another.  The two most contrasting examples of this come from the narratives They’re made of Meat and Homelanding.  In Homelanding, the narrator was successful because she was able to recognize there is a certain quality that all being share in the universe.  That is their ability to recognize and experience death.  The shared experience of loss then becomes the beginning of understanding.  It seems a fitting point to consider how those who morn the passing of others are able to find solace in each other.  There are also narratives of contact that fails to even develop into communication for lack of understanding.  Such is the case of the story They’re Made of Meat.  This is a story of two aliens who come across a planet in their galactic scans whose residents are being made completely out of meat.  Being creatures made from energy of some sorts, they thought of meat as a foreign concept; almost a novelty.  Because of this limited perception and lack of relation took precedence in their judgment of humans, they decided to ignore these oddities of nature than even consider the idea of communication.  Can we say we wouldn’t react the same way if put in the same position?  Most people already hold limited stock in narratives involving aliens because most are willing to ignore the issues brought by such a chance meeting for the safe and stable reality.  Also considering that most individuals learn from empirical knowledge, our current observations just prove we are “special” in this universe.

If you were to ask me of the probability of occurrence one of these narratives has over another, I would probably say that it is a redundant point.  Why not ask me the limits of human achievements or how foolish some people might be?  We cannot even share the luxury of hoping for rationality in human behavior or a measured pace in technological and social development.  I believe the writers would view such lofty expectations superficial at best.  Is the future being written?  I believe there are different degrees of possibilities.  Are we going to end up in cyberspace?  If we do, will that occurrence come as a state sponsored program like that in The Onion and I or will it be more like Burning Chrome?  We will no less be living in cyberspace with only the circumstances changing.  Psychological and philosophical conundrums will no less exist in either of these narratives because their forms of reality are one in the same. 

I think it’s a popular misconception to think of stories like Chocoo and House of Bones as a regression of civilization.  Indeed, I dare say Jon and Mikal might have a different opinion of the word “progress.”  Progress can represent technological innovation but can’t progress also be measured by the level of happiness humanity experiences.  Isn’t the constant march of time progress?  If I were to remodel a house but first the interior needed to be gutted, is that not progress?  Do not misunderstand and think that I believe that the ends justify the means because not all transitions need be punctuated by widespread death and violence or that I believe moral dilemmas do not apply.  I am just questioning the measuring unit of progress.  In what time frame should we look for progress?  In units of years, decades, centuries, or possibly millennia?  Strife can sometimes seem petty through grand expanses of time.  Because of this it is perhaps wise to reserve judgment.

With all these endless possibilities and potential crises on our horizon I should now propose a question to help us maneuver through this quagmire.  What make us human?  Never changing and living in the past causes stagnation yet if we change to much we loose our genesis; a set of experiences that all those who lived in the past to those yet unborn will experience.  Is being truly human having others we can call “not human?”  Just as the concept of white cannot exist without black.  Do we use these narratives to help define ourselves in a medium that can avoid the hindrance of material fact?  Something doesn’t necessarily have to be factual to teach us something.  I believe that literature of the future acts as a perfect way to simulate possible future scenarios in a way that can fulfill entertainment yet challenges the readers to consider in what form will our future present itself.  It is almost ironic that fiction is being used to give people a dose of reality.  Being a political science major, I believe that courses are extremely important because they teach us the benefits for planning and shaping the long-term future than the normal focus in the present.