Format: open-book & open-notebook

Time limit: 2 hours + (regular class period). You are expected to spend at least two hours working on this exam. However, you may leave when youíre finished, and you may use up to the entire class period.

Textual requirements: You are expected to refer specifically to each text we read for class, though of course you may refer to some more than to others, as we did in class.

Texts relevant to the midterm essay: Genesis and Revelation; "Petra"; Parable of the Sower; The Time Machine; "Stone Lives"; "Bears Discover Fire"; "The Garden of Forking Paths"; "The Gernsback Continuum"; "Mozart in Mirrorshades." You are also required to refer to at least two presentations in your midterm. You are also welcome to refer to pop-cultural and literary examples beyond the classís shared experience.

The purpose of this input is to upload portions of student answers to the Lit-Future webpage for future students to study in preparation for the midterm.

Only positive examples are posted.

I chose this class because of its title, actually. I was curious as to what literature of the future would entail. I have really never thought about it. Literature of the Future is different from other traditional literature courses in that they normally consist of well-known writings that have been recognized such as Hamlet by Shakespeare, etc; whereas Literature of the Future presents subjects of literature that are well known, but things that could be, possibly premonitions or foresights. [TH 99]

When I signed up for the course I wasnít really sure what it would be about. I figured it would either be about science fiction or about up and coming writers who would be big in the future. I guess that I was partially wrong and partially right in both aspects. . . . Literature of the future resembles other literature classes I have had in its over all structure. Objectives are well listed and the material is systematically broken down and explained. But it is very different in subject matter. These stories go in a completely different direction than the normal texts. Usually the stories we read are grounded in the social structures, mentality, and ideas of past generations. But this literature, with its forward looking and creative thinking, is a breath of fresh air that in some ways makes the traditional literature feel stagnant. [CS 99]

I really enjoy this course. The challenges from understanding and accepting the material combined with the informative presentations are what make the course so interesting. It has taught me to look at things with a new perspective, and to look at more than just what is on the surface. This is useful to students in the literary field in the respect that it opens the mind to other ideas than just what has been written in the past. It helps students to look beyond the ordinary. [SG 99]

• How does Literature of the Future resemble and differ from other, more traditional Literature courses? (subject matter, texts, class format)

As an avid reader and as a motivated student, I fully expected to thrive and excel in Literature courses, but whatever is going on is sometimes beyond me. Traditional Literature courses, while interesting, leave me with little to nothing to contribute. The novels in those classes focus on the development of society and on the layers of relationships ñ very few of these novels demand the use of my imagination other than attempting to grasp the elusive mist of history. This class, however, is like no other class I have taken. [DN 99]

I haven't taken very many literature courses before this, being that I am a mathematics and engineering major, but felt Literature of the Future could help me prepare seeing the future through other people and how they interpret things to come. I will say that this literature class is much more interesting than your usual ones. [BL 99]

Literature of the Future is an odd genre that doesnít seem to necessarily always be about the future. This form of literature seems to use the future as a medium to paint a picture of the present. For instance, The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells, takes place in the future but is an obvious analogy to the class struggles taking place at the time it was written, during the industrial revolution. This makes the literature of the future or science fiction a very interesting medium. Before taking this course I was never too big on reading science fiction. I had read a few books of the genre; however, they were the good old fashioned, cheesy, mass productions that are made to entice Star Wars fans to buy more merchandise. So with such a poor introduction to the genre of science fiction writing my expectations for the readings in this course were very low. Fortunately the books that we have read so far have been able to stimulate me into thinking about the future in a more active way. Even though the majority of these texts did not challenge my reading level, they did challenge my mind in thinking of how I can change this "written" course of the future we are on to one that is fresh and livable for everyone. [JR 99]

• How has your attitude developed or changed as the course has progressed? (subject matter, texts, class format)
• What adjustments have you found necessary in reading the texts and following the courseís direction? Which texts (or kinds of texts) have been most attractive, challenging, or off-puttingóand why?

Since this class began, I have discovered new ideas and have read many probable examples of what the future may hold, something I had never thought of to any large degree. This course has held discussions regarding Sci-Fi and what sort of material falls under that category. Although that is basically what futurism is categorized as, I do not think that is an appropriate term to associate with this class and the subject matter it includes. For me Sci-Fi is largely about improbable and poorly directed movies and books (literature) for people who want to escape reality. Actually, I should say that is how I felt before this class. Now I realize I was the one out of touch with reality for I now see everything I held unrealistic is simply far-off realistic. [MK 99]

Today, I am more aware that literature of the future isn't just about Science Fiction (like Star Trek). It's about reading about times that may or may not occur in our near or extended future.  It's about knowing the different opinions of other people when we consider our future.  I think we all know about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, but we should look into our futures to see the Huck Finns of the 22nd and 23rd centuries and compare them with the past. [TL 99]

The subject matter did not appeal to me. I thought we would be discussing green Martians, and aliens with one eye. Honestly I never thought it would turn out like this. We do in fact discuss small creatures as such, but it is different somehow. It is interesting. I can look at it like this could very well happen. It is scary but it is exciting at the same time. The Time Machine was fascinating. I did not want to put it down. I read by a pool in Corpus Christi! You can imagine that the book must have been interesting enough for me to read it instead of putting it off and enjoying the pool and the sun. . . . My vision has definitely changed. Before I never really paid attention to news documents or anything, I just did not pay attention. It is not that I was never interested, it is just that I did not understand. Now that I have read some novels and heard presentations, I am very interested, but now I am a little scared because of the fact that nobody knows for certain what is going happen. [EF 99]

The Literature of the Future course is an interesting stimulation in thinking about tomorrow's world. Typical college literature courses expose the past as diverse social, economic, personal, and political arenas from which we can extract meaning and explore trends and their consequences. Rather than hours of lecture, this class involves the students through interesting presentations and welcomed discussions. This course enables the student to envision various futures which may or may not be written. It opens our minds as we analyze different views of the future; for example, the Mormon's view of the future is like the 1950's, Southern Baptists and African Americans' view of the future depicts them to be the chosen people, and American Indians' view of the future involves waiting for the whites to kill themselves off so they can reclaim their land. This influx of various scenarios has aroused my curiosity about the future and stimulated a new area of reading pleasure for me as the course has progressed. [VH 99]

In a standard literature class, I would not be expected to project and think about the world in the future. So often literature asks us to contemplate the past. "Literature of the Future" provokes us to think about what the world, or our own individual world, is coming to. My expectations for this class did not include so much "introspection." In literature classes I have had previously, I have never thought about the theme in terms of "me." "Literature of the Future" is personal. I take my future for granted and have not thought, insightfully, about how "the" world, or "my" world might end. [SL 99]

I believe that this is the ultimate achievement for a class for higher learning, wherein the subject matter is presented in a fashion that the dubious student such as myself gains a respect for it. Parable of the Sower or "The Gernsback Continuum" may be disturbing and/or confusing, yet I have learned to respect these texts and the places they hold in literature. Literature of the Future is a valid course and ultimately deserves more recognition and further examination especially since as a whole the American culture seems to be stuck in the past. We seem to be hesitant of the future probably due to the overwhelming propaganda that has accompanied the upcoming millennium. Therefore, we are continually reaching back to the past to make our future more comfortable and familiar. We have reached backwards in fashion, film and literature especially with the onslaught of the remakes of films of classics such as Ivanhoe, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and The Man in the Iron Mask to name a few. Or we have even turned to reinterpreting these classics with modern renditions such as Clueless (based on Emma), Ten Things I Hate About You (based on Taming of the Shrew), and the latest version of Great Expectations. Paying homage to the past is a good thing, but I daresay we need to look around us and see what lies ahead. [MOS 99]

This course is tremendously useful in that it challenges the notion that we as a race and the planet that we inhabit are condemned. This course challenges participants to explore the idea that the reality of our youth is not necessarily as straightforward as we would like to believe. The idea of (possible but not probable) alternative realities gives me the feeling of having endured an earthquake. The foundation, the ground I take for granted as rock solid, is suddenly quaking beneath my being. How exciting! The usefulness of having your soul stoked and fired is incalculable. [DN 99]

What young mind in this classroom is being stimulated to bring to reality things of tomorrow that are fiction today. This is the challenge I see in this course. The world is changing faster and things as in Parable Of The Sower are happening today, will one of these young minds understand the bookís message and change our apocalyptic future. [SG 99]

Even though I have been an avid reader all of my life, it is still difficult to read about bears holding torches without thinking, "Do what?" [JS 99]

The greatest challenge was budgeting the reading in order to complete all assignments on time. Under normal circumstances the readings would not take as long, but because so many passages required rereading for clarification, the assignment took longer than expected. This was also something that was discussed among my colleagues and seemed to be a roadblock for quite a few of us. The adjustment I have made to prepare for the second half of the semester is to keep reading other assignments even though I am finished with the assignment for the next class meeting. [SL 99]

• How has your vision of the future changed or developed? (You may develop this partly here and partly at the end of the exam)
• Summarize: Where do you stand now in relation to the course and its challenges? What usefulness may literary material like this have for students at this or other levels?

Literature of the future is like the presentation by Timi Radicioni of Spoiler. The writers, just like Spoiler, close their eyes and stop breathing as they pass the deep shadow box. Their writing adventures into something not known to them, and hope to come out with a strong, moving, and intellectual writing. [JM 99]

I believe that books like The Time Machine, Parable of the Sower, and short stories such as "Bears Discover Fire" and "Mozart in Mirrorshades" should be used in high school to provoke thinking. The thinking should include "choices and consequences;" what we do now, does affect our future. Unfortunately, so many parents are against the teaching of evolution, I'm certain conflicts would arise, however, I have always been of the opinion that creationism and evolution have always existed. I do not believe that God created us the way we are today. [SL 99]

Literature of the future, even if at this point it is fiction, in some degree allows the people of this planet to have a glimpse at what might happen. Also it gives some examples (to be built upon) of what might need to be done to survive and adapt after the event has occurred. If people were not exposed to this kind of writing they may never know the different ways life, as we know it, could be altered. therefore people do not think of ways to prepare ,just in case. No! I don't mean run out and buy a gun or store up food for a year, but just think about what skills you have that would benefit you in an emergency. [MS 99]

• Transition from your introduction by reviewing the concept of "narratives or stories" about the future and by broadly introducing the concept of "trajectories" (or "paths" or "arcs") of the future. (These terms are from objective 1)

These themes that we study are laid out in the form of narratives which explain a series of events that happen at a certain time. The three main trajectories of these narratives are the apocalypse which is linear in form, evolution which is cyclical, and alternative which is like a "forking path." [SG 99]

• Reviewing our major texts, describe, compare, and contrast the three "trajectories of the future" (apocalyptic, evolutionary, alternative).
• What are the different literary and cultural appeals of each trajectory? (Use examples from popular culture and from course texts.)

In reading for this course, we have been introduced to the concept of "narratives or stories" of the future. Theses are stories, told by humans, about the future. But this is where the similarity ends. In each story, the reader is shown a "trajectory", or path, of the future. The trajectory can be shown as apocalyptic, evolutionary, or alternative. [JS 99]

From the dawn of time to the present man has sought to define his world and figure out what itís all about. How will it end? Then along came science and sat down beside us and pointed to a new direction. A direction which would give people hope beyond death, hope of a world made better, and for some an explanation of the past and a logical future which would take the fire and brimstone out of future events and allow humans to develop naturally. These thought processes may be labeled, respectively, apocalyptic, alternative, and evolutionary. [KM 99]

Out of the three trajectories of the future, the one mentioned the most is apocalyptic. It is the most well know future that we have and it doesnít fade from generation to generation. It seems to get stronger in belief or support as time goes on. [BL 99]

The apocalyptic vision in "Revelation" begins the course and firmly anchors it in familiar tradition. Thus it is a non-threatening way to introduce the concept of plural "trajectories" for the future. Treating it as both literature and prophecy sets a precedent for examining subsequent material like Parable of the Sower, an apocalyptic vision complete with inherent prophecy that is not part of a religious text and, in fact, may produce a decidedly non-traditional commentary on Judeo-Christian attitudes toward the "end times" (depending on the reader's sect). [DM 99]

On a different note, Apocalypse deals with time in a linear fashion.

The line is often drawn from creation to the ending apocalypse. This is

kind of like a story or even an essay. There is a beginning, somewhere

in the middle lies a body, and a conclusion ends the tale. [CG 99]

The Holy Bible is a linear story with the creation in "Genesis" and the apocalypse in "Revelations." These two books of The Holy Bible are tied together, because in "Genesis" man is expelled but is invited back in Revelations and, while the Tree of Life is left behind in "Genesis," it is found again in Heaven. "Revelations" appeals to us through its romantic idea of a quest. Another appeal is the time frame -- that is, it could happen today. There is an enduring appeal in America from generation to generation, because it is the Rip Van Winkle syndrome where every generation wakes up in a new world full of changes. The apocalypse gives us an ending; it sets the future as written and fixed. The cultural appeal is that people's strong belief in the second coming of Christ as written, tends to bring the focus on themselves and not on their society or world. The focus changes from saving the world to saving oneself. However, in "Stone Lives," he changes from only caring about his personal survival to one who cares about the survival of the

world, because it is an evolutionary text with the future not written. [VH 99]

 People believing in an apocalypse attempt to give a warning of some sort to try to save those who want to be saved. [TL 99]

The Revelation ends with those that are saved and those that are damned. Everyone is judged; no one escapes from this final judgement of God. Individuals are either received into God's presence in heaven or cast away from God's presence eternally in hell. However, not all works of apocalyptic literature have a set ending of time; what they have in common is a sudden, dramatic change that affects the characters in the narrative. For example, "Petra" is a story about life on earth after an apocalypse. In the story, an apocalypse has already happened. Those who survived "must remake the world" without God's help because in the story "God is dead." In post-apocalyptic stories, the characters are forced to learn how to survive those changes that the apocalypse caused. The theme of survival is not only important in "Petra" but also in the evolutionary worldview, which is blended into the apocalyptic novel The Parable of the Sower. The terrible conditions most of the world is in such as multitudes of homeless people, high prices of water, scarcity of gasoline, chaos and fire, and the walled neighborhood are all clues that The Parable of the Sower is an apocalyptic work. However, this story differs from the Revelation in that the future is not written; it is being written. In Revelation, the world has a definite end, a written end. But in Parable there is not a written or fixed end; change is possible. [anonymous]

Debbra Nilssen, one of my fellow students, gave a presentation entitled Exploring the Future. She discussed three possible world scenarios for the future. They included a Market World, a Fortress World, and a Transformed World. These worlds correspond to Literature of the Future's genre divisions or arcs of the future: apocalyptic, evolutionary, and alternative path. Fortress World corresponds to the apocalyptic vision, Market World parallels evolutionary arcs, and Transformed World concurs with alternative paths. Examining the world around me, I see some of all these various worlds. There is, perhaps and hopefully, a trend to the Transformed or alternate path world. Reflections of this world are seen in our classroom today. The students are multicultural, of various ages, genders, and backgrounds. And yet, we all come together with interest and enthusiasm to explore possible future worlds. [DE 99]

With such finalization, the apocalyptic future is represented as rich in imagery and exciting in actions. So, with the humanistic appeal apparent in Revelation, the apocalypse becomes a reality to most. For example, when John the Divine is speaking of what he saw and heard the thundering of the Lord say, "Ö for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready" (Rev 19:7). It states that the Lamb is of the Lord and Jerusalem the wife for the eternal heaven, and that the time has come to go home to them, for the Lamb and Jerusalem become the parents of all those being born unto the belief of Christ. There is such a humanistic nature by speaking of eternity in an image to which all can relate. Those chosen will come home to the wife of the Lamb, Jerusalem. The caressing qualities of a woman are given to the eternal place in heaven in order to sway the hurting and/or non-believers to take the salvation and live in the "feminine" city of gold. I see it as comfort, for all are comforted by the thought of a nurturing mother, Jerusalem, and nurturing father, the Lamb. [LW 99]

"The Simplicity of the Apocalypse" and "Itís the End of the World as We Know It" were two in-class presentations that were based on the apocalypse theme. Both presentations showed a linear visual model of time. "SimplicityÖ" being Biblically related whereas "Is it reallyÖ" was music related. In "SimplicityÖ" we saw a clip from The Seventh Sign showing the first two signs of the apocalypse from the Book of Revelations. In "Is it reallyÖ" we heard the song from REM that was very vivid and lots of imagery presented in the words. Both of them, if you look at them in the apocalyptic sense, are very disheartening. When I originally saw the movie or heard the song, I did not see it as apocalyptic. I watched the movie from a directorís standpoint; cross fades, dissolves, pans, tilts, angles, etc. I heard the song from a musicianís point of view; drums, guitars, keyboards, vocals, etc. I do not listen to the words. So, the million dollar question, how do we get others like me to get the real point of the movie or song? [TE 99]

In comparing the three arcs of the future in relation to the readings, I believe that fire is the symbol most frequently used. Fire is seen as apocalyptic in Parable of the Sower, The Time Machine, Revelation, and "Petra." However, fire is seen as evolutionary in "Bears Discover Fire." [SL 99]

These three trajectories have different appeals. Apocalypse is attractive because if the world is coming to an end then there is no need for us to try to save it so we can just worry about ourselves. Apocalypse is popular in America because our lives change so fast that each generation comes into a newer world than the one just a generation earlier. [CS 99]

The novel The Parable of the Sower is apocalyptic. It is the story of a young black girl named Lauren who leads a small group of people to sanctuary during an apocalypse ñ the end of law and order, food and water, safety, shelter, etc. The story is full of fire and brimstone (characteristic of the Biblical apocalypse). They begin their journey from a safe inner world (their walled neighborhood ñ Garden of Eden) and journey through the dangerous outerworld (Earth), back to sanctuary (Heaven). But, this tale also has elements of an evolutionary end: humans de-evolve into lives of crime and violence and slavery by big corporations; the climate warms, with little to no rain; political morals decline; individuals have little power. There is also a theme of change and adaptability that reinforces this notion of evolution and de-evolution. So, this novel has two overlapping trajectories, which is entirely possible. Finally, the short story "Petra" is also apocalyptic and evolutionary in nature. The apocalypse in this story begins when the death of god, or Mortdieu, occurs. From there on, it becomes evolutionary ñ the people try to re-group and re-build their world, thus evolving into something new. [JeR 99]

The post-apocalyptic texts in this course seem to end on a hopeful note. "Petra" ends with the realization that "flesh and stone become something much stronger." Stone Lives, another post-apocalyptic narrative, ends with the idea that the hero, Stone, will assume the responsibility for cleaning "up this whole goddamn mess". Parable of the Sower ends with the group committed to saying together and symbolizing their commitment to each other and the to the future by planting oak trees. Parable and "Petra" also incorporate evolution into their narratives. Perhaps the decline of society as we know it is simply the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. [DN 99]

The apocalyptic will be just for the "damned," for they are the only ones that have a starting point and an end, burned in damnation. The Christians follow a circle spiral ending up back in the "Book of Genesis" Revelation 22, verse 14: Back once again at the tree of life or knowledge. [SG 99]

The Parable of the Sower differs from both of these texts (Revelation and "Petra") because it is taking place in the relatively near future. However the most important point of the story is that even though it is an apocalyptic narrative, no apocalyptic event actually took place to set the story in an apocalyptic realm. Instead the world slowly but surely changed through gradually crumbling economy and changes in the weather that had been caused by years of carelessness from past generations. So The Parable of the Sower differs the most from Revelation and "Petra" because it is the only evolutionary apocalyptic story of the course. Meaning there was not just one single defining moment that changed the world into a battle zone in which people hide behind walls to keep violent outsiders and the other debasers of the world out of their lives. Instead a series of several, maybe hundreds, possibly thousands of events lead to the type of future world that we see in The Parable of the Sower. [JR 99]

When I was reading Parable of the Sower I couldnít help bur wonder if I were in Laurenís place, could I have survived? Not only physically but emotionally as well? [MK 99]

Education seems the only way to inform people of the outcomes. Parable Of The Sower frightened me enough to pass it on to other members of my family. [PM 99]

Rather than the more usual post-apocalyptic novel, Parable of the Sower depicts a slow but inevitable descent into barbarism, where enough of the old world is still around for the people to realize what they're losing. All through this relationships grow and descend, and should I sayóitís stereotypical to sayóbut every woman usually likes to read about this topic. [MP 99]

The apocalypse as it is envisioned by many, will break the evolutionary cycle, or so it may seem. I myself believe that the apocalypse is evolution. It is the world as we know it after it has changed beyond our own recognition, but, for those living in it, all is perfectly "normal." In other words, we may be living in 1999, the apocalypse of 1899!! [SL 99]

The evolutionary arc or trajectory studied in The Time Machine, "Stone Lives," and "Bears Discover Fire," does not follow a straight timeline from the beginning of time to its end, as the apocalyptic arc does. Rather it circles back on itself to a degree, generation after generation, advancing here, retreating or disappearing altogether there. In fact, while it is not a "forking" line, it is not exactly a single line at all. In "Bears" a whole new species joins the sentient line at one point. [DM 99]

H.G. Wells writes of a future with little meaning. To me, this encapsulates the thinking of the 19th Century. After centuries of religious rule, people were forced to see that they were no longer the center of their universe. [CG 99]

What goes up must come down. Creatures evolve and fade away. Maybe humans will reach a point of maximum before they either change completely or start a backward devolution process. What is amazing about The Time Machine is that Wells knew of the idea of Time and Space because this was a big part of the new physics that was about to emerge in the early 1900's. Also he knew the sun was going to expand along its life cycle to grow into a red giant, which in fact was proved to happen by astronomers named Hertzsprung and Russell. This volutionary process can be seen in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (or HR diagram). "Bears Discover Fire" shows bears as the ones evolving instead of humans. This allows us to get a step back view of what it is like. Also the reaction of the people is quite comical for the reason that the humans don't get excited by the bears having the use of fire. The author is trying to show that we do in fact know that everything evolves and then disappears or changes form. So we should be prepared for us to disappear some day and the animals to evolve into greater things. This is unlike the story of Revelation, which states that you are what you are and there is no changing involved for animals. [MS 99]

"Stone Lives" is evolutionary with Darwinian concepts regarding survival of the fittest, the jungle, growth, and dominance of species. It uses language and speech that shows the business world in terms of the biological world. The differences between "Stone Lives" and The Time Machine is that The Time Machine basis its time around the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century and uses Darwinian theories from that time. "Stone Lives" uses technological, economic, and political change from our own period of history. Both have the concept of people divided into winners vs. losers. [JH 99]

This whole "Rambo-like" survival mode also appears in "Stone Lives," "Stone quests for scraps of information that will help him survive another day in the Bungle. Survival is his mainóhis onlyóconcern." And again, we find this oddly enough in the "The Garden of Forking Paths, "íThus the heroes fought, with tranquil heart and bloody sword. They were resigned to killing and to dying.í" Notably, these three texts fall under varied genres yet hold this common warrior culture thread. Not to mention, Timi Radicioniís presentation of Spoiler which depicts prison-future, well-defines this survival-warrior mode. The good guys are rebel forces which is also seen in the likes of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars mythology. [MOS 99]

Evolutionary theory offends many, especially the religious right. This appears to be a contradiction. Typically right-wingers promote free enterprise ("Stone Lives") while rejecting any kind of government intervention. In "Stone Lives," it is seemingly obvious that free enterprise takes on social Darwinism, not so unlike our own society. Given the endorsement of the survival of the fittest mentality in business, it seems sanctimonious to then object to biological Darwinism. [DN 99]

"Stone Lives." Yes! He does live but what an unusual existence for a boy to have been forced to grow-up in, and under the watchful eye of his mother. The woman who caused him to suffer so much before he is given another chance to live his life anew. Stone's mother who I believe is one of the most despicable mothers ever lived does give stone a chance to live in both the lower world and the upper world. She causes him to have an apocalyptic life as he lives the life of a blind, filthy urchin who is given the moniker "Stone," because he did not cry out when his eyes were dug out of his head, causing him to experience apocalypse pain, "Unbearable white-hot pain." Stone's mother lives in the upper world where politics control the business that support and give life to the politicians who in turn make it possible for the technicians and the scientific learned people to further create things, that will cause phenomenon to move in a cycle, circle, spiral manner so that "Generations, species, and empires may rise and fall", and yes! In some cases give an alternative forking path which may change or alter the direction of one's life. [EP 99]

I have previously mentioned the overlap of the three trajectories; however, to clarify a little more, I feel that intellectually, all three are provable to some extent. I am of the opinion that nothing is 100 percent correct, therefore, that leaves me leeway in dealing with various theories simultaneously. In the book Parable of the Sower, the author overlaps evolution and the apocalypse when she uses Luke 8:5-8 (p. 295). In one parable, the world ends for a few seeds and for the others it is "survival of the fittest." In the story "Stone Lives," Stone's mother has a pet who is genetically produced as is her own longevity. On the other hand, he has lived in hell for most of his life, in an apocalyptic atmosphere. On p. 179 the quote that best describes Stone's survival of the fittest attitude is: "Stone quests for scraps of information that will help him survive another day in the Bungle. Survival is his main--his only--concern." And, apocalyptically, if Stone does not "clean up the mess" that the apocalypse cannot be far away. This is much the same theme that Jason offered in his presentation "People of the Sun" by Rage Against the Machine. In other words, or, the words of Rage, "this is for tha people of tha Sun. It's comin back around again. This is for tha people of tha sun." [SL 99]

Similarly, Lauren wants a better future. In a way, she lives in a similar future. However, she still desires to read, to learn, to know more. By doing so, Lauren creates or "writes" her own fate. She reads books . . . . [CG 99]

If today we do not wake up as did Lauren in Parable Of The Sower and start a new direction evolving out of the past the future of extinction of our species is sure to happen. This brings us back to the apocalyptic outcome, I think man will

somehow go the evolutionary road, at least those with their eyes open to what is going on today. [SG 99]

In "Stone Lives" there are the techs and the non-techs. The two classes represent the rich and the poor once again. Filippo talks about the winners and losers and how society will go through technological, economic and political change in the near future. This is happening today. Computers have taken over the way we work and live in society. As far as the economy, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In "Stone Lives", the quote stating, " survival is his main-his only-concern" (179), is illustrated in society today and ties in with the "survival of the fitness" motto of human outcomes. We are or have changed in the world and people have adapted and moved forward with these changes. [TR 99]

While apocalyptic literature like that experienced in the movie Independence Day proves the most popular of the narratives about the future because it is dramatic, literature about alternative or multiple paths holds the most intellectual appeal. [DE 99]

A text like "Mozart in Mirrorshades" shows where evolution went awry.

The people of the past are going to have to help those of the future, as

Michael J. Fox does in Back to the Future II. Linda Wright's presentation illustrated this concept. Fox's idea was stolen and someone else becomes the millionaire. [CG 99]

In the "Garden of Forking Paths", one quote summarizes the branches that exist on the tree I have mentioned. "In all fiction, when a man is faced with alternatives he chooses one at the expense of the other" (98). This quote describes how man chooses one path and how others choose the same but make new paths for choices they have made. It is similar to Newton's theory of looking at time. Time is uniform like a river that flows. But with the alternative future, the river branches off in to streams that create other streams and so on. This effect resembles Einstein's theory of relativity. Time and space are multi-formed and relate to the branching tree or the forking paths of the alternative future. In "Mozart in Mirrorshades", time is like a deck of cards, "It's like Ölike shuffling the deck of history" (230). One never knows what the future holds but over time society finds out the outcomes and adapts to these changes. [TR 99]

It makes you think. Some modern examples of alternative-future entertainment are "Sliders", "Back to the Future", and "Quantum Leap".[JS 99]

"The Gernsback Continuum" is a story about a photographer who keeps running into a slipstream of time that contains the ideas of the art from the art deco movement of the 30í and 40ís. In this alternate world the ideas of the art deco culture have come fully into fruition and have evolved the society in which they occurred into a quasi futuristic society filled with shark fins and the Rings of Saturn. This is a perfect example of the idea of two branches of time crossing and intersecting. [JR 99}

"The Gernsback Continuum" is a very strange story. The protagonist is hired to photograph some Art Deco architecture from the 1930's. Once he does, it is as if he begins experiencing the reality of the 1930's in his present day 1980's life. He believes he is going crazy, but his friend Kihn, whose sanity is questionable, assures him he is not crazy. Thus, several realities seem to exist at once, and it is hard to know what is real. [anonymous]

"The Garden of Forking Paths" and "The Gernsback Continuum" are examples of alternative futures. They both challenge common sense and demand the use of imagination. As discussed in class, our culture thinks about time in Newtonian terms, as absolute, as a river that flows steadily by, never forking, never branching. With Einsteinís Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, however, the idea of uniform time is becoming as antiquated as a rotary phone. It is difficult to rein in my imagination. Is there another me existing somewhere else, unseen but felt as one twin might feel another from the other side of the world. Suppose I had made a different decision when I was 20, what would have happened if I married a different man? I wonder if in another, parallel universe I am living a completely different life. [DN 99]

The final alternative future that we read before the mid-term was "Mozart in Mirrorshades." This story differs from the other texts because it is really the only one in which all three trajectories of the future completely overlap. In this story a corporation from our world which is called "Real Time" learns how to open portholes to the past. They the send groups to these worlds and strip-mine them of their art, culture and minerals to send back to "Real Time." It is safe to say that this story covers all three trajectories of the future because of all the many aspects of the plot. The corporate people splitting off alternative pasts for the good of "Real Time" is an example of an alternative future, because it provides multiple alternative timelines to be followed. The idea that they are going to radically change and ruin the past times in which they exploiting is an apocalyptic future because these worlds are now doomed to face a radical change that will produce all kinds of horrors for its occupants. Through these changes made by the "Real Time" corporations the inhabitants of the past worlds will have to adapt or evolve to their new surroundings. Thus giving the story an evolutionary aspect as well. [JR 99]

The alternative type of literature shows that what you have done in the past or what you are doing in the present affects what will happen in the future. Also, if you time travel into the future and do something that will alter that state, a new past and present is created. This was the case in Back to the Future II. Marty buys a sports almanac while in the future, and Biff steals it and takes it back to himself in 1955, thus creating an altered Hill Valley of 1985.

The alternative trajectory creates an intellectual appeal by stimulating the mind to create all types of possible outcomes for the future. Every choice one makes leads to a possible future just as every choice one doesn't make leads to a possible future. This allows both the apocalypse and the evolution trajectories to coexist on some level or other. Depending on the choice made, there could be an apocalypse or a continuation of evolutionary cycles; the downside, however, is that this type of literature contains no definite end, simply a life filled with choices. It is without structure. [KB 99]

• In what ways may the three categories overlap? (examples from texts)

These categories overlap in that one may be seen as a path to the other. (If we hadnít blown up the world apes never would have gained control through evolution.) Also by projecting into the future we may play with the past as in "Mozart in Mirrorshades" (also a series by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans, 2^nd book in series is Time Scout and Wagers of Sin). I think the most satisfactory story is Borgesís "The Garden of Forking Paths," especially the line, "Whosoever would undertake some atrocious enterprise should act as if it were already accomplished, should impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past. [KM 99]

I continue to find similar stories to each that we have read this semester, or

similar elements in others that I have read. For example; in Parable of the

Sower by Octavia E. Butler, Lauren, the main character, focuses on rebuilding

a world in which she must live, much like the characters in Piers Anthony's

novel entitled But What of Earth?, who must start from the beginning to

rebuild their earth once all who qualified have abandoned it.[LMcB 99]

• As you relate the texts weíre reading to the larger world around you, which of the three trajectories best describes the world you see? (Of course you donít need to limit yourself to one choice.) Consider personal and cultural reasons for your decision. (This may be a place to use a presentation for an example.)

The vision that these texts have given me of the future is that there is a lot of future head of us. In the movie A Perfect World, Kevin compares a car to a time machine. If you want to project to the future you step on the gas, if you want to go to the past, you look at the rear view mirror, and the present is when the car is stopped. Comparing the texts and a perfect world, this has given me the vision that there is a lot of road to travel, and we are merely a small bug traveling an immense super highway. [JM 99]

Some people see the future as fixed or written because of their interpretation of the Book of Revelations and many religions include "a notion of end time" as the article of the handout from the New York Times discussed. In contrast to this belief is the idea in Octavia Butler's work, Parable of the Sower, that, "Everyone knows that change is inevitable," or that God is change. In other words, the future is being written. [DE 99]

If the Apocalypse is near or in the deep future, it is coming and we must learn how to deal with it. Revelations is the best example of what is written and "fixed". For it is God that tells John ( in a prophesy) that those that abide by the commandments will be saved. To contrast, evolutionary trajectories give insight that it is "being written". For evolution is change... These trajectories tell us that we must find ways to adapt and survive. We must control our future, and we must realize that we determine what is written for our future through our changes. Alternative trajectories are also "being written" and some futures have been written already. [MA 99]

I donít think that any of these trajectories can tell you if the future is written or being written. The apocalyptic stories go both ways. For example the book of Revelation calls the Lord "God Almighty, which was, is, and is to come." This tells me that God knows what is to come, but our apocalyptic story The Parable of the Sower seems to show that the apocalypse happens and then we are to make what we can of our future. Lauren also says that God is "shaping us and being shaped by us." If God is what "is to come," then by shaping God are we not shaping what is to come? [CS 99]

It is stated that the Apocalyptic path of the future is already written from the words of the Bible, and the Evolutionary path is being written as we live and make changes during the never ending spiral. And as for the Alternative path, I see it as being written. We make decisions that affect our future, the unwritten, and in turn create the alternatives that we write ourselves and may have the opportunity to chose. In the Books of Genesis and Revelation, it is already written since it has been prophesied with the seven Angels and seven seals revealing the outcome. It was intended to be known. On the other hand, with narratives such as Parable of the Sower and "Mozart in Mirrorshades," it is being written. Lauren decides to re-write her destiny. She takes off from destruction and journeys to the destination she writes for herself, the journey to her "Earthseed." Rice, in "Mozart," re-writes history by developing the refinery during the eighteenth century and bringing such modern technologies to a time when they had no need. [LW 99]

The evolutionary "trajectory of the future" shows a future that is being written. In the texts that we have read on evolutionary future, all the futures are being written as the world evolves. As the world changes, so do the futures. [AO 99]

I do not think that one's day-to-day life is written but I do think that God has a plan for everyone and it is their option to choose it or not. God has a written plan for all of us. The overall idea that the world will end is written. I believe this from reading the bible. I think that God will come to the world and destroy it as a result of societyís sins. This is written in the bible. The readings in this course have not changed my thinking but have opened my eyes to different ideas. [AO 99]

• As a summary-conclusion to your essay, where do you now stand as a person, a reader, a thinking citizen in terms of whether the future is written or being written? How has your vision of the future been confirmed, developed, or changed by you readings and by the ideas you have explored here?

If we as a society could map and identify these trends, perhaps we could see were we are going wrong. Personally I am undecided on this issue. I lean stronger towards the future being written. The reading I have done in this class confirms this for me. We live in a society that is becoming less involved in the outcome of its future. It may take a complete apocalyptic breakdown in our society for us to change and pick an alternate plan. [PM 99]

As a thinking citizen, I see our future as being written and this class has confirmed that view. The fatalistic view of a fixed future leads to pessimistic thinking and a lack of action in spheres where productive changes are needed. The attitude of "the world is going to end anyway so why change" could very well result in that belief reaching fruition. [DE 99]

No one knows the future but many have prophesied on future events and catastrophes which makes you think that maybe someone has come from a different time to warn people. [BL 99]

This is the cultural appeal of the genre, of this trajectory of the future. The what if? of things. When Lynda Wright posed the question "If you had the opportunity to go back in time, knowing what you know now, and create an alternative path, what would it be?" For the future of humanity and society, I simply cannot fathom an answer. What if I could only go back and change my own future, like Dickensís Christmas Carol? Would I have made different decisions? What if I already went back and made changes and this is the best of all possible futures? It becomes the question that cannot be answered. Time, like genetics, is something I prefer to leave to a higher power. And yet, I wonder if that epitomizes ignorance. [DN 99]

When determining if the trajectories of the future are written or being written, I would have to say the trajectories themselves are written but their outcomes are still being written. I believe there is a form of an apocalypse coming at some point and time, but by whom, when, what type, or how bad is still not settled. My whole vision of the future had been brought to life by this course. I have questions instead of answers about the fate of the future, and I think that is a good start. [MK 99]

The future is both written and being written. In her presentation on Cryogenics, Ginger Hilton presents the idea of people allowing themselves to be frozen and reanimated when a cure is found for their illness or disease. In a future that is already written the death of a person allowed their soul to leave the body which in Christian belief is final. What then do they revive? And then how does that change the environment around them? Again, this demonstrates a written fate and changing surroundings.

Throughout the different trajectories and keeping with the idea our future and the future of those encountered within the literature, one basic human trait surfaces and remains a constant: the need or drive to strive for more than we are faced with. From Parable, we see Lauren as working toward her idea of "Earthseed". It remains in her thoughts and in the way she lives. The movie Gattica has two characters who refuse to accept their allotted positions in life as well. One achieves his goal, heading for space, while the need to succeed eventually destroys the other. Stone from "Stone Lives" demonstrates the survival instinct he learns in the bungle as he hides behind the curtain during the shooting hoping to remain alive.

The Time Machine shows a different view of the lack of contentment. The traveler cannot accept his reality and searches through time for answers. The characters he encounters, the peaceful-passive Eloi are content in their existence and end up fodder for the Morlocks. In a short story by Ray Bradbury entitled "All Summer in a Day," a group of school children living on another planet appear content with their dreary underground surroundings until they feel the sunshine for the first time. They completely ignore another child they cruelly lock up for having the aspiration to have more. The desire to attain is reflected through most literature; however, it appears more prevalent in literature of the future. [LMcB 99]

By having these ideas placed in front of me, I have made a decision about my future. The future may be written as a whole but my future as an individual is still being written. [JR 99]

Although the time traveler has shown the immense future, the strength of

Lauren, Petra, and Rice have shown me that I am the captain of my time and

Future. I write where I will go. [JM 99]

In conclusion, my overall opinion thus far in this course is that the future is written and is being written at the same time. The adaptations will only occur after an apocalypse brings about a punctuated biology. For example, the extinction of the dinosaurs happened then mammals developed. While the romantic idea of transcendence is appealing in my Bible studies, the different realities of tomorrow's world I have encountered in this class gives me hope that adaptation will enable us to survive as a species. My vision of the future is developing into a more hopeful world. Growing up in the 1960's with practiced bomb raids during school and televised Emergency Broadcast System tests echoing in my living room at night, and being an adolescent during the Vietnam War along with the social and racial upheaval of the 1970's instilled in me a bleak awareness of tomorrow. However, this course has opened my mind and directed me toward a more optimistic future -- one that does not frighten. Like in "Petra" where the children of stone and flesh are "still searching for the Stone Christ," our society still searches for answers, and that gives all of us hope for a better tomorrow. The giant told Petra to "read and learn." His advice applies to all of us. [VH 99]