Blog Post 2: 9/14

“He walked to the girl, put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder; at the touch the girl flinched.” (pg.38 in my book)

The context of this line is when Rick Deckard meets Eldon Rosen and his niece, Rachael Rosen. Deckard realizes that Rachael is an android and that the Rosens were attempting to trick him into believing that his test was faulty. Their goal was to coerce Deckard into taking a bribe (a “real” biological owl, which turns out to also be an automaton). Prior to this test, “Rachael” herself was not aware that she was an android with the memories from the real Rachael planted in her. She is incredibly shaken by the revelation and is comforted by Eldon Rosen, who reassures her by telling her she is not a fugitive android like the ones that Deckard is hunting, but one created by the Rosen Association to promote sales. When he reaches out to touch his shoulder, she flinches away. Although just a small detail in the book, this scene demonstrates the uncanny humanness of androids while also highlighting the unique relationship between human and androids. Rachel becomes pale and flinches away from Eldon when she realizes that her life was a lie and that she is actually an android. Although she was implanted with false memories, most likely those of a real Rachael Rosen, her reactions are identical to that of a human. To identify her as a non-human, Deckard had to use specialized equipment to measure the minuscule difference in reaction time between androids and humans to certain ethical scenarios. This sentence highlights how similar to humans these androids are and makes the readers question the line dividing them.

Another aspect of this scene is Eldon Rosen’s action of trying to reassure Rachael. This was the part that I found most interesting. Deckard’s first hint that something is off about the situation is when Rachael repeatedly refers to the own being offered as “it.” Throughout the book, the characters make sure to refer to androids and non-living animals as “it” and not with gendered words. These non-biological constructs are used as replacements for the real things on a surface level, but the people in the book make sure to draw a distinction between the two. But Eldon’s action appears contradictory to this belief. Why comfort an object? He tries to reassure her, first verbally and then physically. These are not actions you would do to an object, something that is only to be owned or possessed. His actions suggest that the line between the robot and the real may not be so clear when it comes to humans and androids or that Rachael the android may be something more than just an object to Eldon and that it is possible for androids to receive love from the humans around them, just like a real living human being.

Blog Post 3: 9/21

The readings for this week really opened my eyes to the effects of the Cold War and how they are still present to this day. Most of what I have learned about the Cold War was from an AP U.S. History class I took in my junior year of high school, in which we spent around a month on the Cold War and half of that time on the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The focus of the class was mostly on the United States; how the Cold War affected other nations was never something we discussed in the class. It’s because of this that these readings had such a huge impact on my perspective of the events. In particular, Steele’s and Rana’s papers, which connected the effects of the Cold War to modern day politics are very relevant, especially now that we are in an election year with every politician attempting to win more support for their “side.” I think my key takeaway from these readings is how much I still don’t know about the Cold War despite the amount of time I’ve spent learning about it in various classes. This is particularly disturbing to me, because I had believed my U.S. History class to be particularly informative and factual, compared to previous history classes I had taken before which only taught sanitized “right vs. wrong, good vs. evil” history.

To connect the readings back to science fiction, one thought I had was how the political climate in the U.S. during the Cold War would have definitely influenced the idea of what society in the future would look like, which in turn influenced science fiction writing which featured such societies. At the time, people who were suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers were considered suspicious and persecuted. People with ties to the communists were usually socially ostracized and sometimes lost their jobs for their connections. It was ironic that a country founded on the idea of personal freedom and expression was willing to suppress that in the name of national security. With the government ignoring the 1st and 5th Amendment rights of Communist supporters and suspected Communists, these people may have turned to science fiction as a creative outlet for their beliefs. By setting stories in the far off future, people would have been able to safely criticize the government and their hypocritical actions with plausible deniability. These stories may not explicitly feature pro-communist protagonists or communist societies but would be able to portray a tyrannical government that ignored its own laws to persecute its citizens. Others may have used science fiction as a form of escapism and created what they imagined was the ideal  future society. The Cold War created a feeling of permanent unease and enemy sympathizers lurking among the people; reading science fiction stories about futuristic societies free of those problems may have been a distraction from current events which would then increase demand for more stories about futuristic utopias. The growth of science fiction itself as a genre may stem from the unease created from the Cold War and how people hoped for a more stable and prosperous future. I believe that the USSR may have had a point when they were censoring science fiction and stories set in the far off future. The popularity of such stories over those set in more modern times may suggest that people are discontent with their current situation and do not find it believable that conditions will improve in the near future, which then requires that any dreams or hopes of a perfect society is far off in time and perhaps space, in the far future on a planet light years away. 

Blog Post 4: 10/26

3. The Zone & Contact

The Zones refer to a number of areas on Earth in which aliens visited and left behind objects. These objects are incredibly advanced technology to the human (items included perpetual motion machines and infinite batteries) but baffle scientists in terms of their composition and original purpose. The Zones have become areas perilous to life on Earth; early opportunists and human scavengers were killed by the strange conditions of the area and the unknown alien technology that could trap objects in an area or cause heart attacks. These areas were initially cordoned off and regarded with hostility and fear. Illegal scavengers, called “stalkers”, would sneak past the guards to pilfer objects from the area to sell for astronomical prices to interested buyers. As people began to find uses for the objects left behind by the aliens, the Zones became regarded as a “treasure trove” filled with riches and objects to be taken and exploited. Roadside Picnic is similar to Solaris in that both stories involve alien “contact” that leaves humanity completely baffled. Although there is “contact,” there is no communication despite the effort of the humans. In Solaris, humans are unable to understand the movements of Solaris and are unable to communicate with the ocean in a way that they can comprehend. In Roadside Picnic, aliens have undoubtedly visited planet Earth and the humans have physical evidence of this. But nothing about the visit makes sense to humanity, from the purpose of the “visit” to the objects they left behind to the effects that the Zone has on human beings. Both stories posit humans as lesser beings that are unable to comprehend the aliens. They don’t understand what they are, they don’t understand their motives, they don’t understand the slightest thing about these extraterrestrials. Despite their best efforts, the humans in both of these stories eventually hit roadblocks and are unable to figure out anything conclusive about their off-planet visitors. The difference between the two stories lies in how the study of alien life was approached. The discovery of Solaris in Solaris was met with excitement and curiosity. People broadly supported the research of Solaris and the attempts to communicate with the ocean. An entire branch of science was dedicated to Solaris. It was only years later, when the Solaricists still had no results despite the expensive cost of research, both in terms of money and human life, that people became disillusioned with Solaris and wanted to abandon the Planet. Despite the effort spent on research, Solaris had no effect on humanity or society on Earth. The history of the Zones in Roadside Picnic is almost the complete opposite story. The initial creation of the Zones devastated the land and killed many. Areas were rendered inhabitable and strangle afflictions affected those who survived whatever it was that killed everyone else. The Zones remained areas perilous to all life and were regarded with fear. It was only after items began to be smuggled out that humanity was able to realize the potential of the Zones and the artifacts they contained. After the initial period of fear and suspicion, the Zones became a fascination for anyone who held power or who wanted power. In the end, it is undeniable that the Zones had an impact on humans on Earth. Initially, it devastated society but it was also able to introduce humans to new technology and items that they would not have been able to create themselves in the time period. In Roadside Picnic, the alien visit and the Zones are as incomprehensible as the ocean in Solaris, but are able to cause positive and negative effects on human society unlike Solaris, which ultimately was seen as a pointless venture with no impact on human life.

Blog Post 5: 11/2

4. Anarres/A-Io culture shock

When Shevek arrives in A-Io, there are a number of moments in which he is unable to contain his surprise or reacts in an unexpected way. One scene that perfectly encapsulates this, in my opinion,is when Shevek discovered that his door is locked when he attempts to leave his quarters (Chapter 1, page 23 of my epub). His reaction is “rage, a kind of rage, a blind will to violence which he had never felt before in his life.” He violently attempts to open the door and smashes every button on the intercom panel in his anger. Later, in Chapter 4, he describes the living accommodations on Anarres, which gives context to his actions. People on Anarres live in dormitories and share their space with others. Couples could requisition a couples room for sexual purposes, but the vast majority of residents lived in shared living spaces with multiple others. Shevek recalls how the only real exception to this rule was children who didn’t get along with others in the dormitory and were then ostracized. Here, we see that a person having their own living space on Anarres was seen as a mark of shame, a sign that they were unable to be around others. A punishment or workaround, rather than something that they earned or merited. The idea of a person having their own room also went against both the Anarres ideals of non-wastefulness and non-ownership. The quote “Excess is excrement, excrement retained in the body is a poison” perfectly describes their attitudes towards non-necessary expenditures such as “the building, maintenance, heating, lighting of individual houses and apartments (170).” In an earlier scene, Shevek is astounded by the idea of his clothes being disposable. When he is told that it was cheaper to just burn his pajamas rather than burn them, he finds the idea near incomprehensible. Society on Anarres values utilizing things to their maximum potential; the idea of money or ownership doesn’t even exist so to destroy something rather than reusing it is a completely foreign idea to Shevek. But going back to the idea of having a private room ,Shevek is shown to be able to grow comfortable with having a private room. In chapter 4, he is initially uncomfortable with the moral implications but is able to see the benefits to having his own workspace. But having a lock on his door, one which traps him in his room, is something that is unable to bear and he regards as going too far. To the people of Anarres, who had difficulty understanding the concept of a prison, the idea of not having complete freedom is something strange and simply wrong on a fundamental level. Privacy is not a necessity to people on Anarres, so the idea of doors being locked is a travesty. To go even further, the idea of freedom is considered integral to life on Anarres. To Shevek, a locked door in his own quarters is a gross violation of his rights, something that is deserving of such a violent and intense reaction.  It is just from these scenes that we can see a major difference between the perspectives of the Shevek, a person from Anarres, and the people in A-Io.

Blog Post 6: 11/10

Prompt 1: Differences Between Trouble on Triton and the Dispossessed

What stood out to me the most when I was reading this novel was how interconnected the different societies and planets were compared to the societies on Anarres and Urras. In the Dispossessed, Anarres and Urras were two moons that were distant, in multiple senses, from each other and had little contact besides the ships used for trading. This separation between them served to highlight their differences in ideology, from the socialist ideals of Anarres to the capitalistic society on Urras. The planets of Terra and Hain are also distant from each other as well as the two moons. Their relationships, or lack thereof, establishes 4 different and distinct systems or viewpoints in which the reader can view the story or situation through 4 different perspectives. In contrast, the world in Trouble in Triton is extremely connected and societies across space are intertwined. Rather than having all of his knowledge based on propaganda, like the citizens on Anarres or Urras, the protagonist, Bron Helstrom, is an experienced galactic traveler who has spent time on multiple different planets/moons. The reader’s introduction to Bron begins with him contrasting the difference in timekeeping between Triton and the Earth/Mars. “Thirty-seventh day of the fifteenth paramouth of the second year, announced the lights around the Plaza — on Earth and Mars both they’d be calling it some day or other in Spring, 2112” (pg.1). This casual reference to standards on other planets is a large contrast to the Dispossessed in which the societies on both Anarres and Urras know little true information about each other and rely on stereotypes or misconceptions. This small detail is never brought up again in the book, but highlights how insignificant knowledge of other planets/moons is in Trouble on Triton. Later on in the novel, we see other characters who grew up on different planets/moons and who’ve emigrated to Triton as well scenarios where characters discuss the events occurring in different areas of the galaxy. A war is ongoing which Triton, currently neutral, finds itself being slowly drawn into. The world of Trouble on Triton is undeniably interconnected. The societies of the planets and moons in Trouble on Triton are not monoliths or realizations of certain ideals like the societies of the Dispossessed but more organic. Rather than clean lines and separations between planets and ideologies, society in Trouble on Triton is messy and scattered. Despite these differences, people are able to quickly accept and process viewpoints and customs different from their own. Rules regarding prostitution, for example, differ from planet to planet. But when Bron discusses these differences with the Spike (pg. 68-69), these differences are simply discussed and accepted. To the Spike, Bron’s stories elicit curiosity but aren’t inconceivable despite how it differs from her current reality. In the Dispossessed, the differences between Anarres and Urras were usually incredible discoveries for Shevek which would cause him to freeze up in shock or wonder and question every aspect of the difference. People on Triton, and presumably other planets, seem to be much more open minded and accepting of things that are different to which they are accustomed. A large part of the difference in reaction would be how the planets in the Dispossessed have little communication with one another, especially compared to how people are able to freely immigrate between satellites in Trouble on Triton. I would argue that this lack of communication is what causes the difference between societies in the two books. Without interplanetary communication, life on Triton and the other planet/moons would mirror that of Anarres or Urras. The Dispossessed and Trouble on Triton both paint very different stories involving different societies across different planets/moons, but I believe that the most important difference is how the people in Trouble on Triton were freely able to communicate and emigrate to other planets, which created multiple societies with their own distinct values and ideologies within themselves.