Annotated Reading List for Independent Reading

(NO FORMATTING COULD BE APPLIED, IN ALL ATTEMPTS)

Huxley, Aldous. "Brave New World." New York: HarperCollins. 1932, 1946.

In the year A.F. 632, there are is a significant difference in the ratio between types of people to number of people from our time. Inflicting a feeling of ominousness on the readers, achieved by enlightening the time travelers that "...the World State's motto [is], COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY," it is almost certainly known before the end of the first chapter that some kind of, basically, moral dilemma is going to affect the way the world will evolve.
John the Savage, a man born of natural causes, (even mentioning this act in public arouses hysterical laughter or wary uneasiness of whoever spoke such "blasphemy") is actually quite civilized, rather as civilized as is possible, with being exposed only to the primitivity of, not really "his" people but the ones that he has been forced to live amongst. Because of this, it is quite plausible to believe that Huxley, in prophesying the dys-/u- topia that is sure to become, implied a certain, sort of devolution of the human race. Yes, the technology in this new world is extremely exceptional ("feelies" are movies that, by interacting with an apparatus, cause real emotions, sensations to be felt by the "viewers"), but by applying these advances (particularly to cloning), almost everything that makes humans human has been wiped from the civilized world (i.e., nothing but happiness is ever felt). This is what makes John such an easy character to identify with. Our world is constantly being "improved" by the daily technological developments, but humanity is still something to be treasured and flaunted (though it is slowly being marginalized by entertainment); John was raised by "savages," ones who forsook the progression of the world and decided to retain their traditionalist values (it is quite amazing how people in the future were able to revert back to a world almost identical to that of the Indians/Native Americans, especially with all history before the revolution (that brought on the "A.F." prefix to dates) being wiped from earth). ((259))

"I, Robot" began as seperate stories in science fiction publications.

Asimov, Isaac. "I, Robot." New York: Fictioneers, 1941; Street and Smith 1941; Street and Smith, 1941; Street and Smith, 1942; Street and Smith 1944; Street and Smith, 1945; Street and Smith, 1946; Street and Smith, 1947; Street and Smith, 1950. 1950

A reporter, Asimov incarnate, is extremely eager to interview the most prominent robopsychologist in this year, 2057. Robots have completely overtaken assembly lines, and the popularity of these machines is balanced by the criticisms of the traditionalists, effectively outlawing their presence on the earth (interplanetary travel has been "mastered," colnies exist on several other planets). Every chapter in this book was once published as its own story; Asimov crafted the story of the reporter and his interviewee, one Susan Calvin, to tie these seperate entities into one anthology, which reveals the history of robotics, how what progress has been made was made, problems and solutions to quandaries pertaining to robots and the Three Laws that bound them into servitude.
Of course, to do all this, Asimov had to become a robot during the writing process; the transformation from entity of flesh to an object of metal is completely seamless. In "Reason," one of the most advanced robots, at that time, questions everything his "masters," those foolish beings "...made of...soft and flabby [material], lacking endurance and strength, depending for energy upon the inefficient oxidation of organic material...", inform him of: the Energy Converter that powers the Solar Station #5 is not a tool created by humans for humans, absurd, it is the Master; space is "exactly what it seems-a black material just beyond this glass that is spotted with little gleaming dots... That is all." ((272))


Gabler, Neal. "Life the Movie." New York: Vintage Books. 1998

Hypothesis: Entertainment is slowly overtaking reality, becoming reality even. Discuss: Through the natural progression of humanity in every field, particularly technology, (')men have become lazier but more rebellious (of the ever ruling aristocracies), more wary (of those in any kind of power) but (despite that) content, more advanced but even more delusional (/ignorant). Chronicling the path to our current situation, to be informed is less significant than to be entertained, (entertainment represents the baser instincts and art is equated to the pursuit of knowledge, of the betterment of oneself on a transcendic level ("the difference between entertainment and art is the difference between 'spurious gratification and a genuine experience as a step to greater individual fulfillment.'")), from the 1800's to the present, so in-depth and precisely, that Gabler's opinions are hard to actually be called that.
Gabler's overall mission in having spawned this literature is to enlighten people of what is happening to us: we have become blinded by our addiction to entertainment, which we are exposed to almost ceaselessly, and from birth even!, and, while it is satisfying to "us," it hurts us, the true inner beings that need legitimate intellectual discourse, no matter what the means of achieving this. That description makes Gabler seem more like a (far-out) philosopher, which he is not, than a true crusader for men to, at least acknowledge what he has discovered, at most change their ways in pursuit of a higher level of civilization. ((303))

ARTICLES RELATED TO B.N.W. COMING SOON