The Terminator series portrays a world
destroyed but machines and humans hunted to near extinction. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep also
has humans fleeing a world coated in radioactive dust. The People of Sand and Slag are unfeeling and have to be engineered
in order to be able to live in their ruined world. The Calorie Man shows a world completely dependent on food
specifically produced by large corporations. Even in Wall-E Earth is a trash filled and uninhabitable and humans are
overweight, completely technology dependent, and controlled. Why is it that the
majority of our futuristic literature and movies portray a bleak and destitute
world? It seems odd considering that the technologies we look forward to in the
future are ideally quite positive. We dream of people engineered to live longer,
be free of disease, smarter, and more emotionally capable. The ability to
travel in time and space, testing the limits of our knowledge and growing. With
all these incredible prospects why are we serial pessimists?
Perhaps we can't stop
ourselves from thinking about the drastic consequences that could come about if
these technologies don't work the way we want them to or if our own nature and
social constructs get in the way. In some of these it is that we become so out
of control that we destroy our planet and have to flee to other destinations in
space. In others we lose control over our technology and it destroys us, or
humans fall under the control of those who possess the technologies we need or
desire. Even more insightful are the stories about a world full of wonderful
things but none of them can make people happy the way they assumed it would. We
fear not only our technological possibilities but the limitations of our human
nature. Do you think we could ever be truly optimistic about the future? Or
will we always be in fear of our hubris, greed, lack of foresight, or even just poor judgment?
Sara, I think a lot of futuristic literature and movies portray a bleak and destitute world because we are already going there at a rapid pace. For example, we are seeing unprecedented weather patterns that are causing immense human casualties. We have economic laws that value resource use over ecosystemic preservation, so we do things like feed tuna to cats instead of preserving tuna as a major, functionally endangered element of the oceanic food chain. The technologies that you refer to are entirely futuristic at this point, and humanity has suffered terribly in the past from the assumption that technology will save us. The state of the ozone layer is one example; when I was a teenager, we used to put on baby oil when we went to the beach, not 50 spf sunscreen every two hours. When I can go back to putting on baby oil, I'll buy the technology-will-save-us argument.
ReplyDeleteIt is entirely possible to be optimistic about the future, but only if you deal with the reality of the problematic tangents on which we are already traveling at full speed. International development economist Jeffery Sachs sums up the global situation pretty well in this book, http://www.amazon.com/Common-Wealth-Economics-Crowded-Planet/dp/0143114875
In contrast, one of the most popular science fiction series ever is Star Trek, which posits that humanity will eventually eliminate poverty and racism through technology. A second very popular militaristic example is the Stargate series, in which we always just barely avoid being eliminated by much more powerful beings. A third example is Red Dwarf, Farside, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and other British series that present the absurdity of humanity in a very large universe. Finally, in speculative fiction more generally there are all kinds of future scenarios that are spun out, yes, some post-apocalytic, but others transformative, post-human, and transcendant. In our readings for the course Star Pit contrasts with people of Sand and Slag. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is... well, let me not give anything away, but it is not just a post-apocalyptic novel!
ReplyDeleteSara, I'm going to sound quite cocky for a moment. I do think we can be truly optimistic about the future because I will be in it. I say this to be a little bit humorous, but the reality is that I believe people are inherently good. I personally do not want to bring harm to the world, and I think there are other people who feel the same way. Although the caring, compassionate, and empathetic people in the world may seem like a small amount, I am sometimes surprised at the quantity of caring people I have been fortunate enough to encounter. I often tell my friends that I'm fully confident that the human race with destroy itself, but I am oddly hopeful about this. No matter what happens in our future or how bleak or grim it may seem, I know that everything will be okay. I cannot explicitly state the source of my comfort, but I do not consider it to be condoning of evil in the world. Perhaps I'm naive; but to reiterate, all things will be okay.
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