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ENGL378G: Science and Fiction - Coggle Diagram
ENGL378G: Science and Fiction
Accountability and Moral Codes
"Dawn" by Octavia Butler: In this story, we can clearly see that the Oankali operate using an entirely different moral code from the human beings. The concepts of kidnapping and holding people hostage are entirely outlawed in most human beings' personal moral codes. However, the Oankali do not see it the same way, begging the question of whether or not something is "right" or "wrong" when the parties are operating under different moral codes, or if one party hardly seems to have one at all. Are the Oankali "wrong" if they do not have any moral code telling them so?
"Prussian Blue" by Benjamín Labatut: An incredibly interesting section of this work discusses how the creator of a substance used for murder during World War II does not feel guilt for the creation or for humankind's misuse of the substance, rather for the ways he may have potentially impacted nature. This work inspired thoughts of whether or not someone holds moral responsibility for the actions that happen as a result of their initial action. If someone uses your invention for harmful purposes, is this your moral responsibility? A similar question comes up in "Frankenstein" as well, and whether Victor has any moral responsibility for the creature's actions as his creator.
"He confessed that he felt an unbearable guilt; not for the part he had played, directly or indirectly, in the death of untold human beings, but because his method of extracting nitrogen from the air had so altered the natural equilibrium of the planet that he feared the world's future belonged not to mankind but to plants..." (32-33).
"Selections from Novum Organum on the 'idols
of the mind'" by Francis Bacon: While this piece deals a lot with perspective as well, I think it interestingly tackles the intersection between perspective and morality. For example, "the Idols of the Cave" discusses how human beings see the world based on their own limited perspective of it and they are clouded by their own emotions and viewpoint. However, should human beings be expected to see more? Is it a flaw to be clouded by what little you can experience with your own eyes, even knowing there is more to the universe? I would venture to say it is not.
Knowledge as Dangerous
"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley: In this text, it is clear that there is a link between the quest for knowledge and the central conflict of the work. Victor Frankenstein completes an experiment that has never been done before, creating human life, and in turn comes to despise his creation. There's an implication that his quest for knowledge was overall regrettable.
Glenn Ligon's "Study for Frankenstein 1" furthers the concept of fear surrounding expressing one's ideas or potentially one's knowledge.
"Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode. But the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again."
"Paradise Lost" by John Milton: This text follows the story of Genesis in the Bible, outlining specifically the point where Eve is told not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge but chooses to anyway. All of humanity faces the consequences of this decision, directly insinuating that the acquisition of knowledge was a negative decision.
"Destroyer" by Victor LaValle: Similarly to "Frankenstein", "Destroyer" follows the story of a groundbreaking scientific conquest and details the potential dangers that can be associated. Dr. Baker, to save her teenage son who is a victim of police brutality, brings him back to life as a form of artificial intelligence and discusses the fears and consequences that may come as a result of this decision.
"Artificial life will be humanity's next great 'concern.' Not just you, but other life-forms. Totally nonorganic. Pure machine" (Chapter 5 page 11).
"A Dialogue Between an Oake, and a Man Cutting him Downe" by Margaret Cavendish: In this text, the man who wishes to cut down the oak tree tells the tree how much knowledge it will acquire once is it cut down and the wood can be used as lumber to travel the world. The tree counters this by saying it has no interest in acquiring such knowledge, and then details many of the dangers that can come with the acquisition of knowledge.
"O, said the Oake, I am contented well / Without that knowledge, in my wood to dwell / For I had rather live, and simple be / Then dangers run, some new sight to see / Perhaps my ship against a rock may hit / Then were I strait in sundry peeces split" (260-261).
Identity
"My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the
Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage" by Susan Stryker: This work explores identity in an incredibly interesting way, namely by highlighting Stryker's personal feelings of relation to Frankenstein's monster. This work explores the rage that accompanies the transgender identity specifically, and details the feelings of alienation existing within this community.
"Fuzzy, Messy, Icky" by Rhiannon Graybill: This text takes an interesting look at the ways that instances of sexual assault and rape can impact one's sense of identity. In the section regarding the term "messy", Graybill explains how the labels "victim" and "survivor" can work to change how people view themselves.
"A victim has things done to her; she is powerless, while a survivor is powerful and in control... unlike a victim, she does not need the help of others" (15).
Graybill's "Introduction" is a further explanation of stories about rape and how we as individual readers with individual identities and experiences absorb and interpret these stories differently.
"My Monster / My Self" by Barbara Johnson: This text explores the female identity, and specifically how the female identity is represented (or not represented) in the story of Frankenstein. It discusses how Victor's characters could be depicting ambivalence in motherhood despite the fact that Victor is a male character. Finally, it breaks down the stigmas and generalizations surrounding the identity of mother.
Zooming in/out and Perspective
"Of the Point of a Needle" by Robert Hooke: This text explains how tools, such as microscopes, have allowed us as humans to see miniscule things that we could never see with the naked eye, such as the point of a needle. Through this we have learned that the point itself is not sharp, proving how much we could be misinterpreting as people due to our limited perspective that we do not have the tools to combat yet.
"Powers of Ten" by Charles Eames illustrates this concept beautifully by zooming great distancing in and out in order to highlight how much we as individuals really cannot see on our own.
"Observed From A Distance" by Primo Levi: In this text we can see a civilization out in space observing life on Earth from a zoomed out, considerable distance. From this distance we as readers can see the flawed interpretations that are had of Earth, showing that we cannot draw educated conclusions from information that is so far removed from what we can sense, such as something too far away or too small.
(Describing a football stadium) "The existence of elliptical craters (more rarely circular or semicircular) within some Cities, or in their immediate vicinity, has already been noted in previous reports... A volcanic origin is considered probable, but their relationship to the urban formations is unknown" (611).
"Pensées" by Blaise Pascal: This text references the space that the human perspective occupies. It is so small compared to the vast grandness of our universe, yet so colossally huge compared to the microscopic. It describes how we as humans will always continue to be removed from the extremes, either big or small.
"For, in fact, what is a man in nature? A Nothing in comparison with the Infinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing and everything. Since he is infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret..." (2).
"Silk Poems" by Jen Bervin: This text explores switching the perspective of a book of poetry to one that a reader would not typically see; that of a silkworm. There is a comedic element that comes from this unexpected perspective, and it also forces the reader to think about the mindset of an animal that they may otherwise never think of.
"Direction of the Road" by Ursula Le Guin functions similarly, placing the reader instead in the perspective of a tree. In this story, we see how the tree views the motion of horses and cars passing by as its own motion, again playing with the idea of our normal perspective.
Kathryn Crim's "Marx, Silk Poems, and the Pretext of Qualities" suggests the perspective of the silkworms making silk may be representing the perspective of factory workers.