Technology and the Body

I think the interplay between technology and disease is very interesting in Neuromancer. Case's ability to act as a cyber-cowboy is fundamentally related to technology, as the neural implants are what allow humans to interact with the cybernetworks in the story. However, once Case is caught, his ability to hack the computers is taken away with a mycotoxin that damages his central nervous system. The company he works for infects him with this mycotoxin, and this is what takes away his ability to use the neural implants. It is interesting that even though the dystopian world of the story is so incredibly dependent on and entrenched in technology, a naturally occurring toxin must be employed to inflict this damage. With the use of neural implants, it becomes clear that technology in this future has become literally internalized by the population in the world of the story. However, even with all of the incredibly advanced technology, the ability to inhibit and then later allow again, Case to use the technology and assume the role of a cyber-cowboy, must be done with something related to nature (the toxin). This struck me as interesting, because with most advanced, Artificial Intelligence stories with computer networks that become self aware, the evil is inflicted by the corporations in the form of technology--technology getting out of hand and over-taking its initial aims and goals of the company. Nonetheless, it is still the tech that creates the problem. This story is particular interesting as Case is the protagonist, and one of the weapons against him on the part the corporation is not technology, but the removal of his ability to access and use the tech. This struck me as an interesting reversal of the traditional way this kind of story plays out. Further, the idea that it is a naturally occurring toxin that inhibits Case's ability to utilize the technology, only seems to support this interesting reversal in the text. The 'evil' company has to use natural means to protect their advanced technology, and this seemed curious to me. Did anyone else notice this/ have a reaction to this idea? This post may be a bit underdeveloped, as I have not quite finished the book, and I have not yet read the articles. It has been a bit of a busy week, but I look forward to a more full discussion of the texts in class tomorrow, once I have finished all of the readings.

Technology: A Threat from Within

I thoroughly enjoyed Neuromancer’s depiction of how technology might be used in the future. One aspect I was particularly intrigued by was how technology made the “boundary between the physical and the non-physical very imprecise” (Haraway, 153), or in the case of the Sprawl, between the real and the virtual. Case is often more comfortable when navigating the non-space of the Sprawl than in the real world, a reflection of the fact that he has spent so much time in cyberspace that it seems more real to him than the physical reality he inhabits. Similarly, Wintermute has the ability to tap Case’s subconscious to create a virtual world much more vivid and starkly real than anything Case’s own memory could recreate by itself, yet another way in which technology blurs the boundaries between the subjective and objective. And once these boundaries become ill-defined, keeping track of reality becomes difficult, as evidenced by the fact that the Linda whom Case meets in the beach hut does not realize that she is just a personality recording, the real Linda having already been killed.

Less benign than this confusing of the real and the virtual depicted in Neuromancer is the suggestion that technology enables social decay. For example, memory-manipulating techniques enable the exploitation of women as “meat puppets”, while Chiba City’s lowlife actively engages in illegal trade in software, hardware and biotechnology. These vices certainly have modern-day analogues in prostitution and black-marketeering, but insofar as society is portrayed as actively exploiting technology to continue engaging in and creating new vices, Gibson appears to be suggesting that while the ways in which our primal desires manifest themselves may change, the underlying motivations will not. The wealthy are certainly not exempt from this rule either, as the advent of cloning technology enables Ashpool to commit incest and murder one of his own kin with no consequences at all. Much of Neuromancer’s social commentary is conducted by contrasting the different lifestyles led by the urban underclass and the corporate elite, but Gibson also suggests that at least in this regard, they are not so different from each other after all.

Finally, through its depiction of Wintermute’s plot to reunite with its other half, Neuromancer indicates how artificial intelligences might pose a threat to society. In order to achieve this goal, Wintermute destroys Corto’s personality by overriding it with that of Armitage, blackmails Case into working for it, and mercilessly eliminates the Turing Police when they attempt to stop its plans. Yet not only was Wintermute created by humans, it was also created to be separate from Neuromancer, and this separation is what ultimately drives it to reunite with its other half. Just as the Time Machine depicts humanity as enabling the means of its own destruction by appropriating technological advancements for military purposes in the Time Machine, Neuromancer suggests that the threat which Wintermute poses to humanity is one which humanity has only itself to blame for, as Wintermute’s destructive impulses are merely consequences of the condition into which it is created.

Technology and Utopia

I wanted to open this post by noting that I love Star Trek and am going to be using some of Darko Suvin's "On the Poetics of the Science Fiction Genre" and Tom Moylan's "Scraps of Untainted Sky" to discuss and analyze the futuristic setting of this classic TV series and its sequels (on both the big screen and television). Fundamentally, Star Trek is unique for series from the 1960s in that it appears to sidestep past its major contemporary issues. Much of the readings for the week concern the political commentary possible in Science Fiction works and while Star Trek does incorporate these issues into its narrative, it does so by disguising it as alien.

In the 23rd century, mankind has moved beyond its own petty disputes on Earth over race, gender, and ideology (aka the 1960s) and thus both unified the Earth and joined it and human colonies to the United Federation of Planets. Quite frankly, it is this point in particular that turns Star Trek into a utopian piece as it makes very optimistic (yet desired) assumptions of the outcome of human endeavors over the 250-odd years separating the show's 1960s inception and its setting. Thus the use of actual, relatable humans as the protagonists allows this show the link to our contemporary world while the optimism forces a suspension of disbelief (as in the manner described by Suvin).

While the use of humans as protagonists allowed the audience to more effectively relate to Star Trek as a Science Fiction work, the inclusion of aliens ironically added to this relationship. The existence of sapient life with complex cultures, alliances, and principles is a central reality to the series but this very inclusion also allowed for broader creative opportunities for Gene Roddenberry and his crew. As is now common knowledge, in the original series, the United Federation of Planets appears to symbolize the West while the encroaching Klingon Empire paralleled the Soviet Union. However, the point is not that there is a parallel (as there are debates on Roddenberry's true intentions), but rather that instead of simply setting human problems in orbit, Star Trek made them issues of humans against various aliens, monsters, and secret/terrorist-like organizations. The utopian world of humanity is now set against the less-ideal worlds populated by Klingons and their brethren, allowing not only for the inclusion of an impossible-to-believe foundation, but also for the parallels to the present necessary for good Science Fiction. Tom Moylan described how literature and SF adopted the issues of the present to the their various settings and Star Trek is no exception. If anything, because Gene Roddenberry didn't specifically intend for these parallels, their existence in the series emphasizes the use of Science Fiction to address contemporary issues.

As a side note, Star Trek is unique in that there is only one truly fantastical technology, the transporter. In essence, the Enterprise herself is simply a space-faring exploration/warship while phasers are fancy guns, etc... While one could argue that the TV show was limited by a small budget and thus had to stick to creating technologies which mirrored those in the 20th century, in reality, there is a subtle brilliance to this connection across time. Star Trek is unique in implementation, setting, and technology in that all three contribute both to the "suspension of disbelief" and the necessary parallel(s) to the present so advocated by Darko Suvin and Tom Moylan. So while the viewer must learn to accept these new alien cultures and the technology of space travel, he/she does not have to fully detach from the present, but rather can view and extrapolate on the parallels between the Enterprise's adventures and our contemporary human world.

Civilization & Superstition

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing -Darth Vader

Hey everyone! Sorry this is so late. A midterm on Tuesday and Ulysses took most of my time for the last few days. I noticed several themes cropping up while I was reading Nova this week. The physicality of the characters, how much of their individuality and personality was tied into their bodies and forms of expression. Another theme I picked up on was the immense distance between objects in space, the vastness of the void and how transportation was the hub on which all people relied on in order for the societies in the Pleiades Federation outer rim planets to function in any form remotely resembling modern society. Delany also forms a commentary on current forms of expression in Katin's proto-novel, an archaic form in the future where the senses can be directly stimulated by an instrument and the wonders of the universe are open to them. Issues of labor and scarcity crop up through the concept of the "ports" which the people use to plug-in to technologies and Illyrion.

Futurama's Holophoner = Sensory Syrinx

What struck me most about Nova was the juxtaposition of the modern and the anachronistic as provided by examples such as Katin's novel and the tarot cards in the story. When Katin describes what a novel is to Mouse he states it is an, "archaic art form superseded by the psychorama" (page 27). He claims that it was capable of "vanished subtleties, both spiritual and artistic, that the more immediate form has not yet equaled" (page 27). Through the use of anachronistic, outdated forms such as the novel Delany calls attention to the barbarous tendencies of societies regardless of the passing of time.

This barbarism is called out most specifically in Lorq's recollection of watching the futuristic "cock-fight" he saw with Ruby and Prince. The lizards used in this practice works as a metaphor for how things fall apart, "the offspring of that race's gods, dwarfed by evolution, were mocked in the pits by drunken miners, as they clawed and screeched and bit" (page 95). The god's of a race may beget the lowest of the low, taken as game by those that follow. Time will lay objects of worship down to objects of sports– displaying the barbarism in society regardless of how far we have advanced.

Another example of continuity in the futuristic society of Nova is the Tarot cards, which now serve as a sort of prediction of the future based on the Jungian symbolism. This is in fact a reversion back to past superstition. Katin may make plas to justify this practice as embodying basic symbols that crop up all throughout human history, but really all he is doing is prescribing a framework that only fits the events in retrospect. Indeed, people who see the future in light of these symbols find the symbols prescriptive because they believe in them: if you think you will meet a stranger who will change your life for the better, you are more likely to be open to that sort of thing or if you think all you have built will fall to ruin you may take any sign of adversity as the coming of this and facilitate your own downfall. In a society where the wonders of far-flung galaxies are within our grasp it seems dubious that such a silly thing as the tarot would carry weight. Irony aside this shows the ebb and flow of culture over time; as time passes something out of vogue falls back in again and we find our understanding of our surroundings cast into doubt by the light of discovery.

Plugging in: Futuristic Labor Opportunities in "Nova" and “Sleep Dealer”

Both Nova and “Sleep Dealer” introduce a novel new system of labor: humans as part of the machines they work with. In both the book and the movie, workers are implanted with “nodes” or “sockets” that interact directly with their nervous systems, allowing them to control larger machines by literally plugging themselves in and engaging in what I understood to be a sort of virtual reality interface. What I found striking, however, was the difference in the way each work describes the societal impact of the two nearly identical technologies.

In Nova, Katin explains the introduction of neural plugs as a psychologically beneficial method of labor, developed by psychologist cum pseudo-deity Ashton Clark in an attempt to reverse the mental damage wrought by the labor practices we, the 21^st century readers, consider modern. He explains,

There was no direct connection between where he worked and how he ate and lived the rest of the time…Ashton Clark pointed out how psychologically damaging this was to humanity. The entire sense of self-control and self-responsibility… was seriously threatened… He [Man] must exert energy in his work and see these changes occur with his own eyes. Otherwise he would feel his life was futile (195).

On the other hand, in “Sleep Dealer”, the “plug-in” system seems to act as the ultimate distancing agent. Not only are workers hired without knowing what job they’ll be doing, they don’t even need to reside in the same country as the machine that they’re controlling. The surreal nature of this sort of work takes a dangerous turn when it becomes military. Working from his distant controls to a soundtrack of canned applause and supportive commentary, Rudy is so removed from the death and destruction he is causing that it is not until coming into direct contact with Memo’s story that the video game-like illusion is broken and his actions begin to feel real.

While these two presentations oppose each other, I personally do not believe that the effects of the plugs are that black and white in Nova vs. “Sleep Dealer”. Despite Katin’s words, the neural plugs in Nova are not without negative consequence. Although the work seems more direct than in “Sleep Dealer” (the workers remain in the same location as the machine, and seem to choose their own work rather than being assigned a position), the ease with which workers can slip into and out of jobs seems to limit ambition, at least in the working class. Without the need to dedicate themselves to learning a chosen trade, the crew members that Lorq recruits have grown up to be somewhat listless, even apathetic. While they have their chosen individual pursuits (Katin’s novel, Mouse’s instrument, etc.), these pursuits never graduate from hobby to vocation. This state of mind leaves the crewmember ripe for the picking when Lorq recruits them, ready to be swept off, unquestioning, into the grayish power games of the wealthy and powerful. Ashton Clark may have intended to restore a “sense of self-control and self-responsibility” with his new method of labor, but the crewmembers’ willingness to drop everything to blindly follow Lorq suggests quite the opposite.

Reading Faces

When Tyÿ first reads her Tarot cards, Katin mentions how they are based on “symbols and mythical images that have recurred and reverberated through forty-five centuries of human history” (113). This reminded me of Jospeph Campbell’s monomyth, and all that comparative studies have shown of how certain stories, symbols, and narrative structures recur in the myths and legends of different peoples all over the world. Certain symbols are universal, appearing, in some form or another, in almost all cultures. Similarly, facial expressions are often spoken of as a universal language. A smile in one part of the world means the same thing everywhere. The importance of faces is referred to several times in Nova. According to Lorq, “In the face the lines of a man’s fate mapped are” (111) and Katin states, “the subject of the novel is what happens between people’s faces when they talk to one another” (179).

Reading faces is an integral part of communication. As long as the universality of facial expressions holds true, faces should not be impossible to read—but we see in the novel that this is not always the case. Lorq’s scar makes it incredibly difficult to see how he feels or to gauge his reactions. He laughs when others expect him to be angry (114), his puzzlement “looks like rage” (115), and “concern appeared a grin” (121). The people around him are constantly misinterpreting Lorq’s expressions. Even Harvard-educated Katin needs a few moments to “interpret the wrecked face’s agony” (152). At one point, Katin’s attempt at interpretation fails completely. He “tried to translate his visage” but it “was indecipherable” (165).

Scars aside, no one can perfectly control the information communicated by their facial expressions. This applies both to hiding emotions and trying to send subtle messages. When Katin tries to look “reservedly doubtful,” the “expression was too complicated and came out blank” (167). Our facial expressions are not something we think about all the time—that would take constant, unsustainable vigilance. Just in the moment between exchanges in a conversation, there is enough time “for a handful of expressions to subsume the Mouse’s face” (137). Mouse’s face is subsumed by expressions—he does not consciously choose to go through this series of expressions. It happens naturally, without his thinking about.

There are numerous ways this natural form of communication can be disrupted—most obviously, with masks like the ones worn at Prince Red’s party in Paris. Also, when Ruby appears on Vorpis, she is wearing a mist-mask (169) and she puts the mask on again when she attacks Lorq with the nets (172). But machines also play a role in the communication breakdown associated with the inability to read faces. It was Prince’s mechanical hand that scarred Lorq’s face, making it so indecipherable. The sockets are also a factor that divides people. Katin is shocked to learn that a whole group of people on earth, the gypsies, live without sockets. Not having sockets, or even getting them late as Mouse did, sets the gypsies apart from everyone else. This relates to Kai’s post on how technology can alienate people from their own human-ness. Facial expressions are universal, but technology has the potential to create a new Tower of Babel, resulting in misreadings and misunderstandings.

Technology, Alienation and Humanity

Although both “Nova” and “Moon” imagine societies in which technological advancements are integrated into methods of economic production, I was intrigued by their differing depictions of how these advancements might affect work satisfaction. In “Nova”, workers are able to physically interact with the products of their labor by plugging into machines with their implants. This enables them to become more deeply connected with their job, making them less alienated from their everyday work and more satisfied with their job. “Moon”, on the other hand, suggests that technology might have the opposite effect, as it is set in a world in which technological advancements have enabled the establishment of mining bases on the moon which need only minimal human supervision. However, as the sole operator of his outpost, Sam has only the non-human Gerty for companionship, and constantly counts down the days till the end of his contract, suggesting that he is very much looking forward to leaving behind the terrible solitude of his workplace. Thus whereas Nova suggests how technological advancements might solve the problem of working-class citizens being dissatisfied with their working conditions, Moon depicts a future in which they actually worsen this problem.

While “Nova” and “Moon” may disagree on this point, both do appear to suggest that technology can alienate people from their humanity. During his confrontation with Lorq in the City of Dreadful Night, Prince is severely injured, and is only able to stay alive by encasing his body in a tank filled with nutrient liquids containing “alien proteins”, leaving him unable to vocalize except through a speaker. Thus medical advancements allow Prince to continue living, but in a state arguably less than human, as his body is no longer physically able to perform many actions a normal human would be able to. However, whereas Prince appears to lose his humanity in a physical sense, “Moon” suggests how technology can alienate people from their humanity from an ethical perspective. For example, Lunar Industries treats the clones of Sam unethically by using them as disposable tools and deceiving them regarding the terms of their employment contracts, but such inhumane treatment was only made possible by advancements in cloning technology. Thus both “Moon” and “Nova” suggest that technology can cause people to become alienated from or otherwise lose touch with their humanity, although in different senses.

In the process of making these suggestions, “Moon” and “Nova” raise uncomfortable questions about what exactly defines humanity. For example, the clones of Sam certainly seem very human to us, a point Sam himself drives home when he emphatically says to Gerty, “We’re not programs. We’re people.” But are they really? Normal humans do not have years of memories implanted into them, or life expectancies of only three years, as evidenced by the first Sam’s deteriorating health towards the end of his employment contract. As explained above, the extent to which Prince can be considered human after his confrontation with Lorq is also questionable, as normal human beings do not survive in nutrient tanks or vocalize through speakers. Do Prince’s and the clones’ possession of human thought processes suffice to categorize them as human? Or must the presence of a human mind be coupled with physical characteristics possessed by normal humans, in order for a being to be considered human? “Nova” and “Moon” challenge our preconceived notions of what it means to be human with these questions, but do not appear to provide any straightforward answers to them.

War, Technology, and their Reasons

While I'm sure that many of my classmates will write on gender dualities in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, I thought I might approach the topic on a different trajectory. Two facets of Gethenian society fascinate me: their apparent lack of war (until the time of Genly Ai's arrival) and lack of significant technology despite it being far enough into the future that our people (Terrans) have developed Nearly as Fast as Light (NAFAL) ships. Gethen is defined by it's expansive Arctic and Antarctic tundras and a generally cooler-than-Terra climate. However, despite this environment, the native Gethenians seem at best hesitant to adopt technology that would improve their quality of life.

"Gethen is defined by it's expansive Arctic and Antarctic tundras and a generally cooler-than-Terra climate"

While they have heating technology, advanced fabrics, and "excellent and economical" stove/heater/lamp units, ground vehicles are few (and usually reserved for snails-pace winter travel while air vehicles are nonexistent. Similarly, radio is widespread yet television is unknown. Thus it begs the question of why Gethenians, who are clearly technologically advanced in mechanics, chemistry, and fabrics, have failed to develop something such as the airplane. However, in their own words, why would Gethenians develop a flying machine if there was nothing on Gethen that would suggest that they could leave the ground (as there are no birds, etc...)? Similarly (but undiscussed in the book), why would they develop television if radio works just fine?

"I am skeptical that there was never a Gethenian who dreamed of flying"

The first point that these questions raise is "what is nature of human curiosity?" Throughout history, human curiosity has spawned the various branches of science, mathematics, art, literature, and engineering. Solitary inventors/artists/scholars work to understand or express our world and universe, and subsequently generate either physical products or knowledge which advance humanity. Using the aforementioned case of the Airplane, humans observed creatures flying and sought to emulate them. On Gethen though, there are no birds and thus this inspiration is lacking. Nonetheless, I am skeptical that there was never a Gethenian who dreamed of flying. More broadly, there is definitely not a lack of art, mythos, religion, or scientific understanding on Gethen. What then, has caused the technological rift between Terrans and Gethenians?

There is something to be said about technological advancement though, and that is that it is inexorably tied to military conquest and conflict. On Gethen, wars are nonexistent and the only conflicts (at least until Tibe becomes Prime Minister of Karhide) are between individuals and clans. On our Earth, pieces of technology have advanced beyond the prototype stage because we have sought newer and more efficient ways to either kill each other or to communicate our success and/or propaganda. Continuing our example, the airplane was not perfected until it was tested in the fires of two World Wars. On Gethen, the lack of conflict is hypothesized by Ai to be a byproduct of natives' androgyny, preventing a saturation of male-related aggressiveness, territoriality, and sex drive. In an androgynous society, there is not impetus for global conflict and thus no pressing need to further develop technology that lacks a clear survival purpose.

"They are vastly outclassed technologically by the Ekumen"

In this respect, I believe Le Guin sought to praise Gethenian society for its "Nobel Savage" like purity because its society is not dominated by the agressive male stereotype that has seemingly built humanity a dangerous and divisive world. However, there is a certain irony to this claim. While indeed Gethenians live in a simple, noble, and peaceful world, they are vastly outclassed technologically by the Ekumen who have presumably developed along lines derived from our (Terrans') present course. Fortunately for the Gethenians, the Ekuman simply prioritize the exchange of culture and information, something which the former, like all forms of humanity, possess to an inordinate degree.