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Science and Fiction, Crim's "Marx, Silk Poems, and the Pretext of…

- - - - This piece seems, at first glace, perfectly neutral as to the nature of science. It describes the impossibility of man ever truly understanding the universe, similar to Bacon's Novum Organum. However, this piece differs from Bacon's in its seeming lack of optimism. The futility of the human attempt at understanding is clear. Despite this, humanity must, by its own nature, continue to try. The acquisition of scientific knowledge should be sought out, but no matter how much humanity learns, it will never be enough. We can never know everything.
  - - - "The transsexual body is an unnatural body. It is the product of medical science. It is a technological construction."
      - Just as Dr. Baker is able to revive her son, the development of science and medicine has granted humanity incredible tools. Providing transgender individuals with gender-affirming medical care is a relatively new scientific development, which can be used to allow people to physically embody their own perception of their personhood.
    - - *Destroyer" portrays very clearly the dangers of scientific development. It is proposed throughout the book that science be used to bring about the end of the world, on purpose and for profit.
      - However, Dr. Baker is also shown inventing objects to make everyday life easier, like her tablet. She also brings her son back to life, bringing about some form of justice after she is failed by the American justice system.
      - Ultimately the villain in this story is obviously The Director. It is the institution of science and knowledge development (which can be swayed by political and personal agendas, or otherwise influenced by humanity), not science itself that poses the true threat to humanity. LaVelle also implies, though, that humanity might also be the key to solving all the world's issues, in conjunction with science and technology, as the novel ends with Akai (half-boy, half-robot) seemingly choosing to remain a part of humanity over isolation.
  - - - "Prussian Blue" is an excellent example of this concept. In incredible detail, this piece describes the horrors of chemical warfare and the life of the man who invented it, Fritz Haber. Haber, in addition to developing the chlorine gas that killed over a million people in the first world war, received a Nobel Prize for the invention of the Haber process, which converts atmospheric nitrogen into liquid ammonia, which can be used in the creation of fertilizers. Without this process, the world would not be able to support the population it currently has. Thus, the same man, through chemical research, both ended the lives of thousands and provided an avenue to support the lives of millions more.
      - Close Reading
        "Among the few possessions Fritz Haber had with him when he died was a letter written to his wife. In it, 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, as all that was needed was a drop in population to pre-modern levels for just a few decades to allow them to grow without limit, taking advantage of the excess nutrients humanity had bestowed upon them to spread out across the earth and cover it completely, suffocating all forms of life beneath a terrible verdure."
        This final paragraph in Prussian Blue is very striking. This story, despite incredibly graphic depictions of what it is like to die at the hands of chemical warfare, does not take up the stance that science or technology will bring about the end of humanity. Earlier in the piece, care is taken to explain exactly what Haber’s process for developing atmospheric nitrogen into nitrates usable in agriculture meant for the population of the world, a process without which the sustainability of Earth’s current population would be impossible. The good and the bad of scientific research are thus explored. That “humanity had bestowed upon” plants this ability to “grow without limit” ultimately implicates humanity as the cause of their own destruction, not nature itself. This is also fascinating in comparison with ideas considered earlier in the course, where it was thought that science could be used to allow humanity to understand/dominate nature. Haber, however, implies that the exact opposite might ultimately occur: nature will take advantage of the fruits of human scientific labor to reclaim the world from humanity, using our own technology against us. Prussian Blue depicts the powerful tool that scientific research can be, used either for good or evil, and used by both humanity and nature. By showing that nature, too, can achieve scientific advancement (albeit not independently), the truly neutral nature of technology is clear; tools do not control the destiny of the world, but those that use them can.
  - - - Butler certainly provides a critique of scientific development in her depiction of the near-end of humanity. Before the Oankali "save" them, humanity has all but destroyed itself in nuclear war.
      - The Oankali's scientific prowess (though rooted in biology) is used to manipulate and dominate the remainder of humanity.
      - However, the acquisition of knowledge is analogous to power in this story. As Lilith learns more (of her captors, their surroundings, of survival) she gains more power over the other humans on board, and hopes to possibly gain enough knowledge (power) to one day overcome the Oankali, to save humanity, as she repeats her goal, "Learn and run!"
  - - - Silk Poems does not explicitly come off as either for or against scientific development or knowledge acquisition, but its multimedia format and inspiration in the field of bioengineering certainly emphasize its reliance on technology. However, Crim's essay recontextualizes this entire work into one distinctly critical of human "progress" (see connected analysis).
- - - - Similarly, this piece argues that many slave owners around the time of Nat Turner's Rebellion bore fears of revolt similar to those that Victor Frankenstein feels towards his creature. The analogy between the creation of slavery and the creation of the creature (as both haunt and apparently "threaten" their creators) obviously paints the creature, brought about by science, as a threat to humanity and civilization.
    - - This piece of art emphasizes the harm that science can pose to the scientific subject, not just the scientist. The creature here is trying to learn to speak "naturally" (from nature, by listening to the sounds of birds), and fails. The incompatibility of science with nature is again emphasized.
    - - Frankenstein is an excellent example of the dangers of scientific development to mankind. Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret to life, through which he creates his creature. This creature is neglected and abused to the point of violence and complete isolation.
      - Victor fears that his creature will bring about the fall of humanity. He refuses to create a wife for the creature, as he believes giving them the ability to procreate will cause the world to be overcome with these inhuman "creatures".
- - - - Similar to Hooke, this piece celebrates the newly acquired human ability to view or conceptualize beyond the limits of human vision, from the subatomic to the far reaches of the universe.
  - - - Paradise Lost is an excellent example of this concept. Milton questions the sacred doctrine of the church, and revises or re-frames things that were "known", like the nature of Satan and the demons, who seem to operate democratically.
      - Most clearly, the fall of mankind (via eating from the Tree of Knowledge) is what gives rise to the humanity we know today. Though we may not be moving towards moral enlightenment, we may certainly be towards scientific.