Critical Response Essay Within the stories A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury and Nethergrave by Gloria Skurzynski, science fiction is used very strongly. Ray Bradbury’s story shows how much of a small act can have a huge impact on the future. Both stories use technology to portray science fiction. A Sound of Thunder used a time machine to go back thousands and millions of years ago, and Nethergrave using a computer that a vortex appears on to show the main character, Jeremy, a game that seems 3D. In both of these stories, the thing I noticed the most was how tone was used.
Through the years people have had the mentality that the advancement of technology will lead to the advancement of human civilization. However there are others who think just the opposite and one of them is Ray Bradbury. Bradbury uses imagery in both Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles to show that the advancement of technology will eventually lead to the decay of human society. Fahrenheit 451 is a book that takes place in the future and in a society that has transformed into almost a dictatorship because of technology. An effect of technology that is shown very clearly in the book was that it made people less social even with their close ones.
Although sharing little in setting or premise, the texts Frankenstein and Blade Runner share many of the same concerns as they both challenge the values and morals of the societies in which they were set, most notably the notion of what it means to be human, as well as articulating the composers' critique of the advancement in science and technology. Both texts also exhibit the consequences of imprudent creation and the hubris of an individual to rise above and disrupt the natural order. Written in the eighteen hundreds by aggrieved writer Mary Shelley, the novel Frankenstein presents readers with a Romanticist perspective of technology ‘dehumanizing’ mankind as society was not made clear of their indistinct boundaries. Through Victor’s regression, “I, the true murderer, felt the never dying worm alive in my bosom”, the symbols of the ‘worm’ explore the downfall in
Feed, a dystopian novel written by M.T. Anderson is based on information technology and data mining in a failing futuristic society. The novel describes Titus and his friends living their lives by suggestions, such as advertisements, from the feed, as well as the knowledge that the feed not only provides them with information instantly, but manipulates their decision making. The dialogue in this novel is distinguished because Anderson has the ability to draw in readers with quick dialogue, unique slang, curse words and grammatically incorrect language. However, this reflects the way the feed has degraded the vocabulary and intelligence of those who have it.
Science Fiction Essay “A Sound of Thunder” is a better example of Science Fiction than “Nethergrave” because it includes more supernatural technology and uses more scientific reasoning. The story “A Sound of Thunder” uses more scientific creatures and a more scientific setting to make a better example of science fiction than “Nethergrave”. One example is the time machine; time machines are very commonly used in science fiction and are a great example of why “A Sound of Thunder” is science fiction. The dinosaur is another good example, prehistoric creatures that are non-existing can be connected to science fiction the same way super natural creatures like aliens can. They get connected through science fiction due to the fact that they are proven to be real, or people believe they could be real.
Dystopia The novel "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler is related to the documentary "Earth 2100" because both shows how our world can become a dystopia in the future. Our society will exhaust our own designs. They both are considered science fiction but are both actually possible realistic outcomes of the future. Like the Mayan cilivization was a thriving civilization and all of a sudden it collapsed. Parable of the sower is a novel by Octavia Butler.
This pursuit of knowledge and progress is not unlike that of the Nazi regime. Composed post WWII, the film also holds totalitarian overtones represented through Tyrell’s creation of a creature “more human than human” and Chew’s blindness to the ethical ramifications and moral obligations of his work (“I only do eyes”) in creating the eyes of the new human race (i.e. the future). Furthermore, Scott hints at the regressive nature of science through the interwoven elements of film noir and science fiction. The film also shows façades of twinkling, awe-inspiring lights with corrupt, dirty
Slowly the humans destroy their own civilizations over time in one way or the other. One aspect the future holds in these works is the idea of having two different worlds. In the film the two different worlds are the realistic world in which machines use humans as energy sources, and the matrix. In the matrix humans are unaware they are in a fake world unless they are freed and detached from the system which controls them. Until they are detached or if they are never detached, humans have no idea of what the real world is.
Carr argues, in reference to Stanley Kubrick's: 2001: A Space Odyssey, "as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence." (Carr, 2008, p.1). Carr believes that the constant need the human race has shown for such technology, will end up stripping humans of their humanity. The article fights to explain how the days of old are being tainted by these new technological advancements and how in the end, humanity will become "artificial". The article starts by explaining the effects that technology has had on both Carr and his close friends.
George Lucas was considered a genius of his time, taking Science Fiction movies into a whole new direction with the usage of computer effects and taking his whole movie up into space. However, his true genius exists in adapting current world issues and milestones in a subliminal manner incorporated in his film. His hit movie, Star Wars may have been engendered as an inspiration of the space race and also to fill the emptiness that followed a ephemeral triumph, but it is clear that the underlying message of the movie pertains to the Cold War and all the feuds and struggle between the United States (represented by Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance) and the Soviet Union (represented by Darth Vader and the Imperial Army). The symbolisms of the struggles between two most powerful countries are portrayed not only though props and costume but also through the sounds in the film as well as camera angles used to make the film. Though the United States at the time of the Cold War were not a group of unorganized forces, like the Rebel Alliance, George Lucas uses the rag-tag band of misfits, the Rebel Alliance, to create a twist in the current power dynamics of the cold war, because in fact the United States was equal to, if not greater in strength to the Soviet Union.