LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Sample Student final exams 2007

 Emily Sevier

How Our Today Affects Tomorrow

Society now is so focused on “improving” every day life to meet our comfort needs, from microwave ovens that zap our food in seconds, to gas guzzling automobiles with automatic seat warmers (come on, who really needs that?).  We have the online highway that allows us to pay our bills, rent our movies and even write final exams, all so we never have to leave the comfort of our own homes. The telephone, is being booted out by the ever so “easy” (although I can’t figure it out) and fast text message, replacing good old fashion personable communication with a slur of abbreviated words on a screen, leaving us to dwell alone without having to ever encounter another living soul.   We want everything, we want it right now and we don’t want to be inconvenienced in any way.  We waste all of our natural resources, pollute the only planet that we have and destroy one another for having different skin, or beliefs.  We do all of this today with little or no regard for tomorrow. 

William Gibson’s “Hinterlands” is a perfect example of how we annihilate one another to make life just a little bit easier.  Toby is a surrogate for anyone who comes back from an alien encounter on the “highway.”  Even though every one who has been taken and returned has done so at the cost of his/her life or sanity the quest continues, because there might be something out there that will better human life.  Kevin Kaup said it better than I ever could in his 2005 final exam,  “We are exposed to nuggets of alien technology, at uneven and unpredictable intervals, clutching at this intergalactic flotsam in the hopes that it might hold the key to one more door of survival. “

Gibson also illustrates this in “Johnny Mnemonic” where men have been genetically altered to better suit our needs.  Johnny has become a human file cabinet who keeps everyone’s dirty little secrets locked away in his head.  As a result he has no memories of his own.  His life and humanity have stripped from him in order to make things more secure for those who can afford it.  Cheryl Voskamp’s presentation of Oryx and Crake demonstrates how trying to simplify humans themselves leads to the destruction of the human equation altogether, by turning man into some base mammal that is no better than cattle grazing in the wild.

“Drapes and Folds” shows how everyday household simplifiers such as vacuum cleaners and cosmetics are responsible for an epidemic of breast cancer.  New and improved fabrics are then created to cure the cancer, but at the price of individualism and creativity.   Virtual reality stories, such as “The Onion and I” and “The Logical Legend of Heliopause and Cyberfiddle” warn of us of how new and enhanced worlds take away any personal connection and remind us of the importance of literally holding onto the things that connect us to the “real” world that forms our humanity. 

Carpe diem, seize the day, live in the moment are all ideals that have shoved down our throat for so long, that it seems all we care about is our instant gratification.  As we become more technology evolved, humanity becomes more distant and devolved.  If anything, I have taken from the readings in this class that human being’s simplified luxury continue regardless of consequences it will produce.