I must agree with the basic sentiment I have seen in other reactions: I enjoyed the discussion from class this week very much so. I feel that the topic of gender, as with many others, is much more easily approached in the medium of science fiction, and this book does a good job of doing so. I need to display my support for Jack's point about agency: the fact of the matter is, Joseph was in fact magically tied to the location he was created in order to protect. When he attempted to walk across the bridge without orders to do so, his constituent parts began to dissemble. Yod was created for the purpose of protecting the town of Tivka: mind you, Malkah changed that with her additional programming, but focus on the point at hand. With this original purpose in mind, he directly disobeyed his primary directives by accompanying Shira to rescue her child - this move in fact put Tivka in much, much more danger. I have to agree with Jack then, that Yod has an entirely different level of agency than Joseph, which I would argue places them in separate categories: Joseph in the category of magical non-human/non-person creation with a few twists, whereas the level of autonomy Yod displays throughout the book (culminating in his decision to prevent anything else like him from being created) as well as scope of action shows a strong sense of humanness/person-ness.
That said, the gender stuff in the book was interesting. I am not sure I read it quite the same as Scott, but I did in fact find parts offensive or at least of questionable fairness. They were not always up front, but they were there. In the middle of one of Shira's outpourings of emotions, you could find small phrases about Gadi's innate immaturity as a man (in addition to his specific personality), and the description of Avram was never particularly friendly either. I'm curious what other people thought about this and are willing to post here (and not discuss in class).
-Mike
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Reflection, Class 7
I thought it was interesting that some of our class really didn't like the book or found it uncomfortable to read. I didn't make much of the female perspective, though I do see that it is unusual for science fiction. Maybe because I am also an avid Jane Austen reader as well as science fiction I didn't mind the discussion of feelings or the inner monologue of Malkah and Shira wasn't weird for me. But we all approach things differently so I enjoyed hearing how some of the guys found the book uncomfortable. I get uncomfortable when women get bashed so the reverse must be true for men. Maybe I'm just used to it more.
I wanted to touch on our discussion of why the book focused on a Jewish community beyond the link between the golem and Yod as a robot. I think the type of faith the Jews have is what makes the story so interesting to focus on a Jewish community. There are often rigidly defined gender roles and there are stark differences between the different forms of the religion, between conservative and reform Judaism. The practice of a minyon and how Yod's personhood fits into that is very interesting and provides a level of discussion that would not be found in a Christian faith group. Their faith also brings the community together in a way a Christian group might not-they have consistently faced prejudice throughout history in a way that has given them strong bonds to each other, something Christians only get by standing in opposition to other Christian groups and claiming one group or another as their own.
I wanted to touch on our discussion of why the book focused on a Jewish community beyond the link between the golem and Yod as a robot. I think the type of faith the Jews have is what makes the story so interesting to focus on a Jewish community. There are often rigidly defined gender roles and there are stark differences between the different forms of the religion, between conservative and reform Judaism. The practice of a minyon and how Yod's personhood fits into that is very interesting and provides a level of discussion that would not be found in a Christian faith group. Their faith also brings the community together in a way a Christian group might not-they have consistently faced prejudice throughout history in a way that has given them strong bonds to each other, something Christians only get by standing in opposition to other Christian groups and claiming one group or another as their own.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Class 2/26
To begin with I just have to say that this was, I believe, one of the more interesting thus far. In the discussion we covered more of our previous works than we have yet to refer back to. We mentioned how we could change the conversation with a time machine in reference to Wells, we compared Yod to Mike from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, we discussed the Borg from Star Trek, we compared the civilizations with the Duniverse, Akira was mentioned, as was The Fifth Element, and we even alluded to the stories we are going to encounter with Blade Runner and V for Vendetta.
In our discussion of Heinlein, we debated whether Mike could be held morally responsible for his actions. Here we have taken the next step in debating whether or not he is actually human. The fact that this was the primary discussion point and that there are characters in this book that are our peers is needless to say a little unnerving.
As far as the administrative stuff we talked about I agree that the Wiki does appear to be faltering but once all of the outside posts are up I feel like it will start to come around.
Most importantly it is time to read V for Vendetta which I have been looking forward to all semester, yeah!
In our discussion of Heinlein, we debated whether Mike could be held morally responsible for his actions. Here we have taken the next step in debating whether or not he is actually human. The fact that this was the primary discussion point and that there are characters in this book that are our peers is needless to say a little unnerving.
As far as the administrative stuff we talked about I agree that the Wiki does appear to be faltering but once all of the outside posts are up I feel like it will start to come around.
Most importantly it is time to read V for Vendetta which I have been looking forward to all semester, yeah!
He, She and It: Post-class Reaction
I feel like an important part that we didn’t get to in our discussion is the nature of Yod’s creation. More than once it was said that both Joseph and Yod were not “born” like children from a mother. I find Yod’s coming to consciousness very interesting. He was just bombarded with sensation and knowledge, and his initial reaction was to retreat. And Shira even makes a comment that he came into the world just like all children: protesting and angry (page119). This coming into consciousness with all knowledge makes me think of Paul’s sister Alia in Dune. She too was born in such a way that basically skipped over childhood and made her more knowledgeable than the average human.
Another concept that that should be taken into consideration concerning the human vs. non-human argument is the hypocrisy of human, who believe they have the right to define who deserves human rights. As mentioned in class, humans more than once considered someone of different background as less than them and not really human, the obvious example being blacks. So humans (and in some cases specific groups of them) consider themselves the sole deserving organisms of the right to call themselves persons and deserving the natural rights given to humans (like the right to be in control of one’s life).
Another concept that that should be taken into consideration concerning the human vs. non-human argument is the hypocrisy of human, who believe they have the right to define who deserves human rights. As mentioned in class, humans more than once considered someone of different background as less than them and not really human, the obvious example being blacks. So humans (and in some cases specific groups of them) consider themselves the sole deserving organisms of the right to call themselves persons and deserving the natural rights given to humans (like the right to be in control of one’s life).
Monday, February 25, 2008
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.
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.
Certain gestures
I simply must post again: when the book is at the point where Gadi is holding a festival in the Commons, this is what came to mind:
Yod as being fake on the inside (in terms of human biological components) yet being more human on the outside than Gadi. To complicate things, Gadi had all sorts of artificial enhancements about him in this scene, like the metallic eyelids and so forth.
When I finished thinking that through (albeit in a more extended fashion), my mind produced an excellent visual of Professor Jackson doing that thing he does when comparing two seemingly different things; where he holds up both arms, each containing one of the entities in the comparison, and then poses the thought I just wrote out as a question, while tilting his head in consideration of the quandary he just outlined for the class. I hope my description here is accurate, but my point is serious - what do people think about the fiddling that the author is doing throughout with what is "really" human as opposed to somewhat human as compared with only seemingly human (ad nauseum). Any thoughts on this?
-Mike
Yod as being fake on the inside (in terms of human biological components) yet being more human on the outside than Gadi. To complicate things, Gadi had all sorts of artificial enhancements about him in this scene, like the metallic eyelids and so forth.
When I finished thinking that through (albeit in a more extended fashion), my mind produced an excellent visual of Professor Jackson doing that thing he does when comparing two seemingly different things; where he holds up both arms, each containing one of the entities in the comparison, and then poses the thought I just wrote out as a question, while tilting his head in consideration of the quandary he just outlined for the class. I hope my description here is accurate, but my point is serious - what do people think about the fiddling that the author is doing throughout with what is "really" human as opposed to somewhat human as compared with only seemingly human (ad nauseum). Any thoughts on this?
-Mike
The insights of Shira
There is a line in the book that I cannot pass until I have posted about it, and exclusively it. On page 239, Shira thinks to herself "Most of life was bizarre when she stopped to examine it." When I got to this line, something like 75 different tangents, themes, ideas, and other bits of thought jumped my brain and took it over for a moment. I was thinking everything from "Socrates was right; we STILL don't know what the good is, or anything for that matter" to "this is why I dislike Macs" - needless to say, a large array of things occurred to me. I suppose that the reason this passage resonates so strongly with me is that I am and have always been an individual who enjoys tinkering and taking things apart to see how they work. This is not everyone, which I understand, but I feel like many people lack the capacity to appreciate something because they don't understand its inner workings. For example, people who prefer Macs to PCs sometimes list as their reasoning "because it always works." Thats great, if you like things to work without you understanding anything. I would argue that OF COURSE their overly expensive computers work seemingly perfectly, because all the components are manufactured by the same company, and their software is designed to work on their hardware. I prefer the ability to fix my own computer and know why things work the way they do, as I can and have done with my custom desktop computer. And, for the record, Macs do break, and there are viruses they can get. Just know that my partiality does not lie with Windows. Anyways, this is a fairly small example. On a larger (and more important) scale, people suffer from not stopping to examine life: racial hatred, where people fail to stop and realize that all parties involved are imperfect humans, so everyone's race has committed a wrong at some time or other. This is a good way to get back into the text, where about a quarter of the story revolves around the parallelism between Yod the cyborg and Joseph the clay-being, and how racism against Jews in the 1600's/racism of sorts against the free cities in the future are similar. In fact, the entire setting for the book is an ecologically-destroyed world, the result of almost everyone not examining the costs of strip mining, and dumping trash in the ocean. More specifically, it is showcasing the effects of removing oil from the picture, a la bombing the Middle East totally into a wasteland. Unfortunately, as seems to be the intention of all people, short-sighted concerns rules everyone after the pseudo-Apocalypse as well: the different corporations control much of the land that is worth having, there are massive slums in between them, and then there are a few free cities on the dangerous coastlines. The slums are left as they stand (in abject poverty), and then the multis fight each other for resources and the short term advantage, while the free towns pander to different multis to stay alive. Forgive my idealism, but one might think that after the world goes down/up in flames and there are much fewer people who know have near instant access to information, they might work together to improve things? Apparently not. Nevertheless, this one line in the book seems like it might have tempered the actions of enough people who heeded its wisdom to change history as presented in this book, but instead you got Eliot's 'The Wasteland' on steroids. With lasers and more-human-than-robot cyborgs. Great.
I suppose this blog is not the best medium to plead for more critical thinking on everyone's part, but thats what happens when books (or in this case, single lines) are thought-provoking, I guess.
-Mike
I suppose this blog is not the best medium to plead for more critical thinking on everyone's part, but thats what happens when books (or in this case, single lines) are thought-provoking, I guess.
-Mike
Sunday, February 24, 2008
He, She and It
So I probably did not read this work as closely as I should have and at times I felt rather lost in it. Of course it did not help that every three or four pages it felt the story caused me to conjure up images of a number of different movies I have seen.
Primarily I was thinking about I, Robot and Bicentennial Man. The theme that impacted me the most was the robots ability to begin to learn and feel. As the characters in the book slowly began to realize that robots around them were indeed more than just one task machines but appeared to be becoming more and more human. In Bicentennial Man Andrew Martin, a robot, began to become aware of himself and actually made the decision to become more human by active change. He worked with scientists to create human-like organs so that he would be less robot and much more human. Probably the most touching thing was that man finally voted to declare him a human just as he is dying.
In I, Robot Sonny is created by a scientist who wishes to create a greater robot while at the same time fears what his new creation could do if it fell into the wrong hands. Sonny also develops feelings and emotions similar to the book.
I know none of this is really mind-expanding but at the moment this is all that I can actually coherently present.
Primarily I was thinking about I, Robot and Bicentennial Man. The theme that impacted me the most was the robots ability to begin to learn and feel. As the characters in the book slowly began to realize that robots around them were indeed more than just one task machines but appeared to be becoming more and more human. In Bicentennial Man Andrew Martin, a robot, began to become aware of himself and actually made the decision to become more human by active change. He worked with scientists to create human-like organs so that he would be less robot and much more human. Probably the most touching thing was that man finally voted to declare him a human just as he is dying.
In I, Robot Sonny is created by a scientist who wishes to create a greater robot while at the same time fears what his new creation could do if it fell into the wrong hands. Sonny also develops feelings and emotions similar to the book.
I know none of this is really mind-expanding but at the moment this is all that I can actually coherently present.
Visions of the Future, Courtesy of Piercy
I guess I'll start this off by saying I liked He, She and It. Once again, there's a lot to talk about but I'll stick to my practice of three and find a few things.
First off, I liked the inclusion of the morality of Yod's purpose and creation. Not only that others argued about it but that he (yes, I'm going to regard him as a person and give him the gender of male) also thought about it. Whether it is morally acceptable to create a weapon that can think and feel and expect it to carry out it's purpose without being able to decide for itself whether it wants to complete it's mission, to grow beyond it's programming or follow it. Of course there is also the question if they do follow their programming if that is their choice or their conditioning via the programming told them it was their choice. Which is a whole other pickle. The morality is further complicated by the religious aspect, whether Yod was a golem or just a cyborg. It could be argued that he was a golem by the standards of his time and a golem is just a man-made creature, though I'm not sure Avram was really going for the kabbalism angle so much as the robotic.
Second, I also really liked the weaving of the story of Joseph in with the action of the book. Not only was it a good parallel for Yod to consider but it was also a good parallel for the reader. Yod's interest in a human woman was returned by Shira while Joseph's was not by Chava. Yod had the tempering influences of Malkah and Shira while Joseph only had Chava, the Maharal being useful for instructions but he didn't consider all the possibilities that Joseph would face, Malkah did and Avram contributed, in a way, by his experience with the other cyborgs. Joseph was created to defend the ghetto, Yod the town of Tikva and each did their job well. Chava gave up her son for her freedom from the family, Shira saved her son with Yod's help. Yod sacrificed himself for the good of the town and his family, Joseph wasn't given the chance however and was, in essence, killed by the Maharal. One of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett, wrote a book about a golem joining a night watch called Feet of Clay where the whole life through the words thing played a big role. It was very interesting and, of course being Pratchett, funny.
Last, I want to touch on the struggle between individual freedoms and the authority of the state in the book as I've pretty much decided to write my paper about that topic. Of course in this case, there is no state only a multinational corporation, which could be a whole other subject. Each multi controls the social standards for it's enclave and pretty much buys people after they go to school. The multi is able to move people around at the drop of a hat and status depends on your worth to the multi which in turn controls dress, housing options, everything. Tikva's trying to stay independent by exporting chimeras and other technology and is constantly under threat from the multis. Shira and her son were pushed around just because YS wanted to steal Tikva's technology and Base. YS thought that they could just dangle Ari in front of Shira and she'd jump to come back. Underestimated her, I think.
There's more that I could talk about and I could likely talk about this stuff more but I think that's enough for now. Until Tuesday.
First off, I liked the inclusion of the morality of Yod's purpose and creation. Not only that others argued about it but that he (yes, I'm going to regard him as a person and give him the gender of male) also thought about it. Whether it is morally acceptable to create a weapon that can think and feel and expect it to carry out it's purpose without being able to decide for itself whether it wants to complete it's mission, to grow beyond it's programming or follow it. Of course there is also the question if they do follow their programming if that is their choice or their conditioning via the programming told them it was their choice. Which is a whole other pickle. The morality is further complicated by the religious aspect, whether Yod was a golem or just a cyborg. It could be argued that he was a golem by the standards of his time and a golem is just a man-made creature, though I'm not sure Avram was really going for the kabbalism angle so much as the robotic.
Second, I also really liked the weaving of the story of Joseph in with the action of the book. Not only was it a good parallel for Yod to consider but it was also a good parallel for the reader. Yod's interest in a human woman was returned by Shira while Joseph's was not by Chava. Yod had the tempering influences of Malkah and Shira while Joseph only had Chava, the Maharal being useful for instructions but he didn't consider all the possibilities that Joseph would face, Malkah did and Avram contributed, in a way, by his experience with the other cyborgs. Joseph was created to defend the ghetto, Yod the town of Tikva and each did their job well. Chava gave up her son for her freedom from the family, Shira saved her son with Yod's help. Yod sacrificed himself for the good of the town and his family, Joseph wasn't given the chance however and was, in essence, killed by the Maharal. One of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett, wrote a book about a golem joining a night watch called Feet of Clay where the whole life through the words thing played a big role. It was very interesting and, of course being Pratchett, funny.
Last, I want to touch on the struggle between individual freedoms and the authority of the state in the book as I've pretty much decided to write my paper about that topic. Of course in this case, there is no state only a multinational corporation, which could be a whole other subject. Each multi controls the social standards for it's enclave and pretty much buys people after they go to school. The multi is able to move people around at the drop of a hat and status depends on your worth to the multi which in turn controls dress, housing options, everything. Tikva's trying to stay independent by exporting chimeras and other technology and is constantly under threat from the multis. Shira and her son were pushed around just because YS wanted to steal Tikva's technology and Base. YS thought that they could just dangle Ari in front of Shira and she'd jump to come back. Underestimated her, I think.
There's more that I could talk about and I could likely talk about this stuff more but I think that's enough for now. Until Tuesday.
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