The robots are gonna kill us all, nooooo!

[exsequar]

What is this, inflate Anne's ego day? I kind of wish it was for more substantial reasons.

Firstly, before Lit class, I ran into my professor on the way in, and she asked me what year I was, and when I said sophomore, she said "Oh, so you've probably already chosen a major, right?" She was totally gonna try to pitch an English major to me (for anyone that doesn't know, I'm a Biochemistry major that dabbles in literature classes because it's fun!) and I was amused. Everyone wants me, whatever shall I do!

Then during class, she posed the question to the class as a whole, "Does anyone know the term for a horrific vision of the future?" and I was like, um duh, and popped my hand up, and she kind of looked around before calling on me. "Dystopia," I said. Obviously, right? But no - a soft gasp (I kid you not!) travelled the classroom, and Nick looked at me and exclaimed softly, with a grin, "Nice one!" My neighbor Katie turned to me and said, "And you're a Bio major?"

I was a bit bemused! Did their high school English classes really never touch on dystopian and utopian literature? We never did that as a specific subject, but the terms most certainly came up. They're obvious to me, like "metaphor" or "thesis". I guess it's just times like these that I have to realize just HOW supremely lucky I was in my high school education. Believe me, I appreciate it more than I can possibly say, but sometimes... yeah. A bit shocking.

On another note, part of the discussion was about why man fears machines, and why so much literature portrays a dystopia where machines have subverted human individuality or turned on humanity in some way. We had just read a short story by E. M. Forster called "The Machine Stops" wherein humans had been reduced to living in these little cubicles and almost never actually encountering other people, because everything they needed was supplied by "The Machine" in that one room. They could - gasp! - talk to people on the other side of the globe, and actually see their face in a screen! Shocking! Hee. But anyway, I wanted to put in my two cents but never actually got to so I went up to the professor after and was like, I'm very into science fiction, and it's amazing how prevalent these themes are in the fictional works today - and I proceeded to briefly explain to her the background premises of The Matrix and Battlestar Galactica (which are, incidentally, quite similar, especially if you've seen the Animatrix, which I have). We still have this fear that somehow we will create an entity that will be superior to humans, rendering us obsolete, or, simply, dead. It's fascinating how that has survived so intact through nearly a hundred years of progress.

/geekery.

Comments

[jebbypal]

Heh, reading your stuff is like looking back at myself in college. I had my poli-sci prof pitch his major to me when I took his class to finally fulfill a gen ed req in my senior year:) And oh, I loved going to a liberal arts school because I got to use so many lit classes for most of my gen ed stuff (stupid ethics was a complete waste of time though).

Yes, sadly, too many of us bio people are totally confused w/ engineers by the general masses for how "literate" we should be.

[immoralilly.livejournal.com]

My headmistress once read us that story to illustrate the dangers of the internets. She was big into that theme.

(Once, when I was 13, I answered that the time zone in England was Grenwich Mean Time and got an audible gasp. It was a strange moment.)

[unamaga.livejournal.com]

I've always found that kind of dystopian literature to be really interesting, especially since a lot of the older works, like 1984 and Brave New World are still so incredibly relevant this many years later.

In Brave New World, all words relating to family are considered swear words, and isn't it interesting how much the family itself is disvalued in today's western culture? In order to become a proper member of society, we have to distance ourselves from the shadow of our family, become "our own person" and take care to become nothing like our parents before us. A man who follows in his father's footsteps, say to become a doctor or mechanic, is thought to either have no thoughts of his own, or to have been pressured by his family into his profession.

Another parallel can be drawn from the Brave New World society's condemnation of monogomy to today's obsession with sex and promiscuity. "Sex Sells" really is the motto in business nowadays, and it's rare to see a commercial on TV that doesn't involve an attractive person or some kind of sexual imagery. Celebrities, like Colin Ferril, that are said to get around are actually more desirable than ones who keep to one significant other for a length of time.

And I'm not necessarily implying that our society has gone to complete pot, but it's kind of cool to look at all the similarities and things authors have predicted that've come true.

Um. Sorry, I'm rambling. In short, I think your geekery is awesome.

[poisontaster]

I don't think it's a question of creating a life form/technology that will render us obsolete so much as it's a practical issue. Assume AI exists. We have then created a life form that is competing with us for the same resources and has no human empathy or emotions whatsoever. The practical, LOGICAL measure is to eliminate the competition for resources, particularly when said competition has made no indication that it can police its own usage of said resources and tends to deplete them in their entirety. At that point, what reason does the AI have to exist with humanity in harmony, particularly if it can eliminate us without harm to itself?

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

Whenever I introduce BSG to people I always compare it to The Matrix! :)

[paddle-slut.livejournal.com]

aw everyone wants you?!...nope, they can't have you, you're mine ^^ *grins*