LITR 4632 Literature of the Future

Sample Student final exams 2009

Josh Hughey

A Not-So-Different Not-So-Distant Future?

            I have always enjoyed the what-ifs of literature, especially dystopian literature.  This is not to say that I wish for a dystopia, just that I find it interesting.  This course has really been a varied and interesting mix of stories.  Many of these stories really make one reflect on the world today, to really think about what makes society good or bad.  This is very important, but the course has offered me something much more important.  That is variety and imagination.  When looking back at the technological history of the world, comparing the past to the present, it seems logical to think that the not so distant future will be as incredibly different as the past.  I have always thought of myself as having a great imagination.  In fact, many things I used to say or think of would get me responses such as, “what are you smoking?” or “did you hit you head or something?”  Even so, I have always envisioned the future as being not so different from the world today, possibly less disease or better cars, but never truly different.  This course has offered a great variety of possible futures, and after reading the stories many of them seem possible if not probable. 

            The problem with this is that the possible or probable futures are not exactly the ones I would want to live in.  The best example of a very possible future is Parable of the Sower.  Given current trends in poverty, war, and crime, as well as research on four hundred societies after the Roman Empire suggesting the average life of a society is only seventy years, it seems very possible that the U.S. could fall to its state in the story.  In fact if one started truly modern society when many due, around 1950 during and through the rise of radio and television, that puts the events of Parable beginning at about the seventy-fourth year.

            The other two stories that seem very possible are the cyberpunk stories of William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Burning Chrome.”  These two stories, as with any cyberpunk stories, see the rise of technology and the rapid exchange of information, including illegal activities involving both.  They both examine breakthrough technology, which can greatly improve the life of an individual while the collective lives of society are rapidly deteriorating.  These seem very possible when one examines the selfish and individualistic nature of modern society.

            My past view of the future often fit in line with cyberpunk ideals.  A bunch of little changes in technology while the whole world stays about the same or gets worse.  Parable, as well as “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Burning Chrome” all seem to be suggesting that the future is headed toward a much more individualistic way of life.  This seems extremely possible when one looks at the increase in individualism since the 1950s.  While doing this, however, they are also suggesting that the only way to achieve a desirable future is through collectivism.  This may scare a lot of people, because when many think of collectivism communism comes to mind.  This does not have to be the case.  It simply means that in order to achieve a better society and avoid a future like those in these three stories, decisions must be made in relation to the betterment of all societies not just one society or one individual.  Which future will be the true future?  I certainly don’t know.  I don’t think anyone does.  We can, however, use stories like this to tell us what not to do and what we don’t want to become.