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Science Fictions :explode: "Fantasy is the impossible made probable.…
Science Fictions :explode: "Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible" -Rod Sterling
Time Travel
The Time Machine 
This book tells the story of a scientist who develops a time machine. It highlights his journey to the year 802,701. In this age, there exists two species that originated from man: the peaceful and innocent Eloi, and the savage beasts known as Morlocks. The story explores the theory of evolution. It's important to note that the story takes place in 1895-- 36 years after Darwin released his "Theory of Evolution." The Eloi degenerate over time, devolving to a species that is rather unintelligent and weak. This is because at some point, mankind experienced very little hardships in life (Degeneration Theory). The story ends happily, when the Time Traveller never returns to 1895; instead, he presumably stays in a happier time.
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Kindred Dana is an African-American woman living in 1976, when she is suddenly transported back to the South in the early nineteenth century. She discovers that by some supernatural force, she was summoned back to slavery to save the life of her great-great grandfather, Rufus Weylin. The irony is that Rufe is a white slave owner, and Dana has to work as a slave for the periods of time she spends in the past. Her husband, Kevin, is also a white man. The story highlights the transition from the twentieth century to a slave household in the South. Kevin has no trouble adjusting to his role as a privileged white man, but Dana experiences the horrors of slavery firsthand. The story explores numerous themes, including sexuality, gender, racism, American history, trauma, power, and the genre of slave narrative. The story may not be considered sci-fi, but it incorporates elements of science fiction that are exhibited in other sci-fi stories.
Aliens & Others
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street An episode of the Twilight Zone in which a neighborhood suddenly loses all utilities, the functionality of cars, and other appliances. When the people of the neighborhood congregate, a young boy claims to have read a story where aliens visit a neighborhood and shut off all electricity. Furthermore, in this story one family in the neighborhood turns out to be aliens as well. The people of the neighborhood believe this is nonsense at first, but as paranoia sets in, the families begin to point fingers. Things get increasingly violent, and a man ends up getting shot. The episode ends ironically, when you see the aliens after all. They were the ones who shut off the electricity, but their only mission was to observe the humans. They claim that this resort to violence has happened at every neighborhood they've visited. It makes you wonder, is mankind innately evil?
The End of Science Fiction "We are the gods who can unmake the world in seven days." This poem provides a bleak outlook on the status of humanity. It gets at the fact that mankind is come so far technologically that science fiction is becoming a reality. In the end, Mueller asks that people "invent something new," such as a "shepherd who kills a giant." The idea is that science fiction is no longer fiction, so writers should instead return to telling fantastical tales.
The Word for World is Forest The Word for World is Forest takes place in a universe in which mankind surpasses the boundaries of Earth and conquers distant planets. The Terrans (Earthlings) arrive on the planet of Athshe and mistreat the native Athsheans. Captain Davidson is the antagonist; a narcisistic Terran who enslaves the natives. His arrogance is so strong that he fails to recognize that the Athsheans are capable of rebellion. Selver, one of the natives, launches an attack against the colonizers. In the end, the rebellion is successful, but the Athsheans are exposed to the action of murder, something that had never occurred before on Athshe. The story is a critique of colonialism and serves as a strong allegory to the Vietnam War. The book is also quite similar to the film Avatar-- perhaps it was the source of its inspiration.
Story of Your Life
Ted Chiang's short story is both genius and extremely complex. Despite this, much of the story is spent reminiscing (or foretelling) the relationship between mother and daughter. When aliens land on Earth, Dr. Louise Banks is recruited to establish communication with the beings and discover what brings them to Earth. When she begins to memorize the alien language, she begins to have strange flashbacks which she is unfamiliar with. Eventually, she realizes that these aren't exactly memories; she is seeing her entire future. She finds out that her daughter will die tragically in a climbing accident, but still cherishes every moment with her. She sees her daughter's entire life, hence the title. The story follows a confusing timeline, incorporating the past, present, and future tense. Chiang emphasizes Louise's strong connection with her daughter. It also makes you wonder, how does time work? If we somehow could see our future, could we make any changes? This story says no.
Arrival Arrival is a film based on Ted Chiang's short story. The central plot is essentially the same, but some changes and additions are made. Side plots are created, such as the public's reaction to the arrival of aliens. A less significant difference is name changes; Gary becomes Ian, while Flapper and Raspberry are renamed Abbott and Costello. The movie is less scientific; the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is glossed over and there is no mention of Fermat's Principle. The movie also feels much more dramatic, especially in the end when Louise makes a single phone call which prevents a global war. Also, the alien's provide a reason for their visit, claiming that their language is a gift and that they will need mankind's assistance in the future. The aliens never gave reason for their visit in Story of Your Life. Overall, the movie is very exciting, but it doesn't express the same level of connection between mother and daughter as the short story does.
Posthumans
Be Right Back In the Black Mirror episode "Be Right Back," Ash dies tragically in a car accident. When his girlfriend struggles to cope with his passing, new technology provides another option. Ash 2.0 is an artificially intelligent replica of the human Ash, that lives in "the cloud." At first, he starts as someone to text, but since Martha obsesses over Ash 2.0, she takes things to the next level. A synthetic company provides technology to bring Ash back to life in humanlike condition. After a few days, Martha realizes that Ash 2.0 would never be the same as the old Ash. In the end, instead of killing Ash 2.0, she banishes him to the attic, where she puts everything that she needs to move on from. The story explores the need for human connection, and the drawbacks of artificial intelligence.
Blade Runner In Blade Runner, "replicants" are created to conduct slave labor for the human race. Eventually, the intelligence of the replicants evolves to the point where it is practically on the level of humans. Replicants are created with only a four-year lifespan so that they don't develop complex human emotions. A crew of replicants returns to Earth in search of the fix to the lifespan problem. At first, the rogue crew of replicants seems to be evil, but by the end of the film, you are left questioning who is at fault, replicants or humans? The bigger question is: what is the difference between humans and androids? Do humans have an ethical responsibility to treat them right?
We can Remember it for You Wholesale This short story explores themes of artificial memory, reality, existence, and identity. The main character, Quail, has a burning desire to visit Mars. When his wife rejects this idea, he visits Rekal Incorporated to have an artificial memory planted in his head instead. It turns out that Quail was actually a secret agent who visited Mars and conducted dangerous missions for Earth. As his memories return, he comes to terms with his real backstory, and seeks a refund from Rekal. After speaking with his commanders through a transmitter device in his head, Quail agrees to erase the memory of Mars and implant a different memory instead. His idea was to have an encounter with aliens at a young age, who agree to hold off on an invasion of Earth for as long as he lives. Ironically, this memory turns out to be real as well, even though the aliens had suppressed it in his mind. The story makes you wonder, what makes a man? Is it his real life experiences, or just memories of experiences that never actually occurred? One of the issues in this story is the narrator is unreliable, and it's rather unclear whether some things are real or fake because his memory is so clouded.
Ex Machina In Ex Machina, a genius computer programmer develops a humanlike robot. He invites one of his employees to conduct the Turing test on his newest creation. Ava, the robot, is intelligent enough to not only convince Caleb that she is a sentient being, but she uses him to plot her escape from the remote location from which she was created. The film provokes questions like: Are humanlike robots disposable? Once artificially intelligent beings are perfected, will mankind stand a chance against them? The film has an eerie resemblance to Frankenstein; the computer programmer creates a being which he can no longer contain, and in the end, he faces the consequences.
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Never Let Me Go This book takes place in a dystopian society, where clones are raised to a prime age (20-30), and then murdered for their vital organs. Instead of a story about the science behind cloning, the novel instead explores the teen drama of a group of young "donors." Kathy, the narrator, reminisces on her entire life throughout the book. The story starts in Hailsham, an isolated community where clones have a better experience than other clones. The clones in Hailsham get a good education, and spend a lot of time developing their art skills. Even in this safe community, guardians display hesitance and animosity towards some of the clones. Through Kathy's narration, we find out that clones are no different than any other human being. This makes us realize how unethical it is to treat clones in such a savage way. The author, Kazuo Ishiguro, claims that the story is meant to be one that explores humanity. It tells the story of growing up, only on a shorter timescale because all donors know of their imminent death at a young age. The story is both deeply depressing and eye-opening. It highlights the dangers of cloning technology, yet expresses the need to treat clones the same way as any other human being.
Apocalypse
Inventory Inventory is a short story which tells a woman's life story through a list of sexual encounters. It is a chronological list which highlights both personal growth and tells the background story of an apocalyptic sickness. The story is a progression in multiple senses; as the story goes on, the narrators encounters become both more intense and more emotional. At the same time, the progression of the virus becomes more serious. Throughout the story, the narrator is constantly making lists, or "inventories." At the end, the narrator lands on an island and recalls the memories of her life. The structure of the story emphasizes the fact that all of her past actions led her to where she is in the present. The story also highlights the need for human connection; as humans become more isolated, intimacy becomes more important.
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Station 11 A story which jumps around in time, and tells the story of a flu virus which wipes out most of Earth's population. We hear the story from multiple perspectives, but each person is connected to the famous actor, Arthur Leander. Kirsten tells a majority of the story from a perspective 15 years after the virus originated. She is part of a band of traveling actors, who travel to survivors to perform, under the belief that "survival is insufficient." The story takes place in multiple time periods, both before and after the pandemic. At one point in the book, Clark analyzes the creation of a snow globe. He recalls the multitude of perspectives which helped such a simple object come to fruition. Its an analogy to how humanity is so interconnected. Furthermore, humanity is necessary for all utilities to work, which is why everything shuts down shortly after the flu breaks out. The message of the story is hopeful; art and community are extremely powerful and essential for survival.
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Interstellar When Earth is no longer habitable, NASA sends a crew of astronauts to find a new planet to call home. The astronauts face the challenge of time dilation due to Einstein's relativity. Throughout the film, characters are developed and humanity is explored. Cooper, the main character, needs to return home to see his daughter while she's still alive because he promised her he would come home. Dr. Mann, the astronaut that was supposedly the best of humanity, practically sabotages the entire mission because of his greed. The sci-fi film explores themes of space travel, time travel, and innate human qualities.
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There Will Come Soft Rains A bleak story of a post-apocalyptic Earth where humanity is wiped out by a nuclear war. Even though all mankind is wiped out, technology still exists. An artificially-intelligent house goes through its everyday routine as if nothing happened. It cooks breakfast, cleans, sets up for a party, and reads bedtime poems. However, it has its flaws. When a starving dog returns to the house, it fails to provide food, and instead incinerates its dead body. Finally, a fire starts when a tree branch collapses through the roof, and the humanlike house fails to extinguish it. The story makes us consider questions like, will artificial intelligence outlive humanity? Is AI necessarily a good thing?
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