LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Sample Student Final Exams 2011 Essay 1

April Bucy

Discovering Your Inner “Tech-y”

Envisioning elements of the future should seem a natural phenomenon for a species so acclimated to search for the how and whys of civilization. How did we get here? Why are things they way they are? It could be implied that the natural progression of such questions would fall among those inquiries of what do we do now or even how do we improve what we have already created?  In a world so concerned with technological advancement, it is almost impossible to fathom living during a time when fire was considered the only form of “technology” as seen in some of the more lo-tech texts of the course.

A future falling under the category of lo-tech would be considered one in which society continues to rely on certain fundamental components such as actual organic food instead of food pills as a substitute. House of Bones introduces two fairly primitive species content with living in a world full of ancient traditions, sacred language and simplistic lifestyles. It could be implied that the very language the tribe holds sacred to be technology in its simplest form.  The narrator Gebravar acknowledges that the language is “private, sacred, for insiders only. Not for the likes of me,” and only realizes that he is an accepted member of the tribe when “Paul says, he’s going to begin teaching me the other language- [t]he secret one- [t]he one that only the members of the tribe may know.” Another example of living in a lo-tech society is found in Men on the Moon when the grandfather is confused by the images he sees in the television. He is not sure if what he is seeing is a dream or actual reality. Living in a lo-tech society, however is usually associated with terms such as real or even “reality.”

In Chocco it is almost as if humanity has gone back in time. The Machine People developed a society void of anything that could be considered organic or intimate and instead relied on a life style considered to be high-tech. It is the assumption of the Sun people that it is this very technology that initiated the downfall of the Machine People. A high-tech society is one in which the appeals of virtual reality and body modification overpower that of simplicity. Machines are developed to do the jobs of humans much like a dishwasher or washing machine of today. There is little concern for the environment and instead a high-tech society aims to create the “bigger and better, faster and stronger” version of the world. They’re Made out of Meat demonstrates a society so high-tech that its inhabitants can not comprehend how something made up meat could possess the intelligence needed to develop any form of technology. What is most interesting about this; is the fact that the human brain (referred to as meat in the story) is a highly specialized organism but in the story it is actually considered to be highly primitive.

Faron Samford in his Fall 2009 essay, Technological Evolution, argued “[w]hat seems to be clear through all of the works that have been covered this semester is the degree to which the evolution of humanity will be shaped by technology.” I am not so sure that technology actually aids in the evolution of humanity. In fact, I think as our species transitions to a more high-tech society, there are those individuals that long for the “good ol days.” In Chocco, Men on the Moon, The Poplar Street Study as well as House of Bones humanity opted to revert back to its roots and re-established two of the elements that make us human- the need for family and for intimacy.

Technology and the future seem to go together like peas and carrots. With the rising and the setting of the sun our culture is exposed to the bigger but not necessarily better elements of technology.