He, She and It: Pre-class Reaction

Our society seems to fear of tight control, many sci-fi movies and novels that I have encountered (mostly American or Western) depict the world after some type of catastrophe where everything has become insanely regulated and individuality has been destroyed. It almost seems like individuality led to the bad event so everyone had to be reined in. When reading or viewing such sci-fi stories the rigid control seems cruel and/or unnatural to us, but that is because we are used to our values. So in which case would the world be better as a whole…is it better to live in a more chaotic but more free world, or in a regulated one that keeps things under control at the expense of personal choice? On page 36 Shira notes how in her Y-S life she has used her senses less, which has a less human connotation. And later she speaks of how their emotions are a lot more controlled and not allowed to come out to their fullest.

I also found Yod’s self awareness and development an interesting commentary on humans, and their own search for identity. For example on page 117 when he says how can I know if what I label with a word is the same thing you feel. And also later he says how do I know what I feel is the same what a man would feel or you would feel and Shira says well even men and women perceive things differently. Which leads to the question what does it mean to act human. How does consciousness and self-awareness play in, and who is to say who or what is “human,” since it can be said that a person can be acting “inhumane.” On page 150 another related question is raised how does purpose play into this? Purpose set or chosen by oneself rather than Yod’s case in which he was created to defend…but this topic has gray areas, because society and social constructs shape a person and often their road and purpose in life, especially in some societies more than others. And on that same page the topic of hypocrisy slightly comes into play. Humans in this world (and to another extent in ours) have altered and improved themselves, especially in their where they have computer implants. So who decides what is ok and what is not? Or what can be defined as living or human? In a way it is all social construct, affected by culture and norms and deeply rooted believes (ex. Religion).

Another concept that this book raises is the aversion to something different or unknown. People seemed to be more defensive or aggressive rather than open with someone or something they don’t understand. Like some of the characters initial reaction to Yod or Nili.
On page 222 another interesting comment stuck me when Shira says that Nili seems more artificial than Yod. And I can see why she said that. Since Nili comes from a different culture and doesn’t have the slightest interest of changing or blending in. While Yod is trying his best to become more “human”. But even that label is a social construct of our society.
But I did notice how Yod’s mind is structured differently. For example on page 167 when we see the thought stream of Shira and Yod side by side, on 117 he expresses his inability to enjoy music the same way, on page 247 when they are dancing and he says it’s easier for him to perform human work related activities rather than letting lose (he is in large a computer and thus very logic oriented), or a few pages earlier where he states he doesn’t understand the concept of sexy. He seems to replicate and create new patterns, but he can’t just randomly create, he needs to analyze and test first

And the final idea I will mention is this societies’ need/addiction to virtual reality (talked about on 244). This addiction to the virtual and ephemeral seems to fit Gadi’s personality perfectly because it is about instant gratification. And I find it interesting that he is the character that represents our societies’ use of drugs, substances, excessive luxuries etc. because the book talks about how he knows what the adolescents want and he also speaks about using a spike, which is an illegal, altering “thing”. So it is just like drugs in our society but in virtual form.

Ok I think that is enough for now.