June 18, 2015

Myths and Innovation  Our mythic imagination reflects our desires for mastery, magical or scientific  Our mythic anxieties shape our resistance tp innovation and mastery

Cultural Interpretation

Biopolitics of Pop Culture  Fantastic fiction shapes the public’s thinking about emerging technologies  Frankenstein, Brave New World, Matrix, Gattaca become shorthand for commonsense objections  Fantastic fiction depicts social and philosophical issues in abstracted form, more often with implicit bioconservative messages  Utopias are boring, and complex futures take more work  Radically transformed humanity is hard to empathize with  We need more sophisticated pop culture images of the future

Audience Trends  The audience The evolving demographics of fantasy, SF, horror fans The expanding demographics of fantastic fiction in television, film and games  Socio-political trends Anxieties about immigrants, minorities, foreign threats Anxieties about technology and personal identity The expansion of liberal democratic citizenship

Media Influence  Massification of fantastic literature, film and TV in 1980s  Literary SF is more sophisticated than film and TV Literary SF more subcultural, film/TV SF more popular  Film and TV have become darker and more complex My Favorite Martian, Mork and Mindy, Alf vs X-Files, Babylon Five, Battlestar Galactica

Five Categories of Other  Aliens  Machine minds  Animals modified for intelligence  Post-humans  Other intelligent species from Earth

Top Grossing Films  None of the top 25 grossing films of 1965 had non-human intelligence or future biotech 3.Guardians of the Galaxy – aliens 4.Captain America: The Winter Soldier – posthumans, aliens 6.The Hobbit pt 3 - – non-human intelligent species 7.Transformers: Age of Extinction – machine intelligence 8.Maleficent – non-human intelligent species 9.X-Men: Days of Future Past – post-humans 11.Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – uplifted animals 12.The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – post-humans 13.Godzilla – non-human intelligent species 15.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – uplifted animals 16.Interstellar – robots, aliens 17.How to Train Your Dragon 2 – non-human intelligent species 25.Lucy – post-humans

Political-Economy Cycle  Kiser and Drass (1983): # of utopian novels goes up with depressions and “hegemonic decline” in UK & US,  Io9 analysis of Dr. Who’s revolutionary aspirations:

US Imperialism & Prime Directive  Annalee Newitz’ study

Immigrants, Racism, Foreigners  If negative Other images reflect xenophobia we would expect them in more xenophobic groups and times  Since SF fans are more liberal, more positive depictions in lit than film and TV

Expansion of Empathy, Citizenship  Liberal democracies define citizenship based on psychological capacities, not physical characteristics  This expands citizenship to non-human persons  Withdraws citizenship from embryos and the brain- dead The Measure of Man

SF Consumers are Different  SF consumers were more opposed to animal experimentation especially for “higher” mammals Hughes, James. Aliens, Technology and Freedom: Science Fiction Consumption and Socio-Ethical Attitudes Futures Research Quarterly, Winter, 1995, 11(4):

Problems  Cult favorites (Lord of the Rings, Evil Dead)  Elite vs. mass influence (Lovecraft)  Cumulative down list volume (monster movies)  Extraordinarily positive Others, applications of tech  Boundary definitions (supernatural creatures, talking cartoon animals)  Minor characters versus major characters (Gremlins)  Plot twists (silvers in Sarah Connor Chronicles)

Anti-technology Tropes  Novel technology causes evil, unintended consequences Deadalus & Icarus  Evil scientists Dr. Faustus  The desire for longevity mastery or intelligence is evil, has unintended consequences

Evil, Tragic, Repentent Immortalists  Most images of people who want more life are negative Only sanctioned salvation can provide immortality, otherwise its evil

Doctor Frankenstein  The desire to reanimate the dead will have bad, unintended consequences  Dr. Frankenstein is willing to unleash those consequences in the thoughtless pursuit of scientific mastery  Does it inform our thinking about cardiac defibrillators or organ transplantation?

Animal Uplift and Chimeras  The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)  Planet of the Apes ( )  Splice (2009)

Brave New World  State managed eugenic inequality In-vitro fertilization? Free genomic choices in a democratic society?  Birth control, sexual freedom  Safe happiness drugs Have Prozac, sexual freedom and reproductive choice robbed us of humanity or distracted us from political struggle?

Pro-technology Tropes  Promethean tech heroes Wells’ Things to Come (1933, 1936)  Millennialism & utopian future Verne, Bellamy, Gernsback, Star Trek  Loyal servant

Elisions of Star Trek  Genetic engineering and cognitive enhancement are banned  Limited use of the transporter Medical use explored in one episode  AI is rare, and has a Pinnochio complex

Genomic Choice Gattaca (1997)  Its not evil to help parents have healthier kids  That future could fix his heart  Lying to NASA so you can die in space is not heroic

Cloning  Doppelgangers, evil twins and stolen identities  Sleeper (1973)  The Boys from Brazil (1978)  The Sixth Day (2000)  Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002)  The Island (2005)  Never Let Me Go (2010)  Cloud Atlas (2012) Why would clones have fewer rights, or be more manipulable, than other humans?

Servant Races Blade Runner (1982)  Is the creation of genetically enhanced people evil?  Or is corporate power, racism and the intentional engineering of subservience?

Cloning Extinct Species Jurassic Park ( )  Cloning a mammoth or a Neandrathal?

Wireheading and Brain Pacemakers  1963: "Electrical self-stimulation of the brain in man." by Dr. Robert Heath."Electrical self-stimulation of the brain in man."  1972: Epileptic self-stimulated thousands of times for hours; “protested each time the unit was taken from him, pleading to self- stimulate just a few more times...” 1972  Terminal Man (book 1972, film 1974)  Sleeper (1973) – Orb, Orgasmatron

Cognitive Enhancement  Flowers for Algernon (1959, Charly 1968)  Awakenings (1990)  Lawnmower Man (1992)  Limitless (2011)  Lucy (2014)

Enhanced Soldiers  Robocop (1987)  Wolverine  Captain America  Countless others  Is the problem militarism or the enhancements?

What Kind of Images Do We Want?  Orginal vision of cyberpunk: to break with utopian and dystopian visions, and depict a gritty future  Beyond the demonized or valorized Other to the complex and gritty Other  For culture creators and audiences to be as sensitive to biopolitical tropes as they are now to racist images