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Daniel Lopez-Blas

Mr. Sigrist

Science Fiction

October 22, 2018

Foreseeing the Future

In physics, there exists a principle known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. In a

nutshell, it states that by calculating the exact position of a particle, you lose accuracy with

respect to the particle’s momentum (mass*velocity). Similarly, by attempting to accurately

calculate a particle’s momentum, you can no longer accurately know that particles position. It is

physically impossible to measure either at the same time, unless of course you’re a particle that

knows where you are and where you’re going. Like human qualities, if we focus too much on a

single aspect of a person, we tend to see them as just that quality. But if we try to generalize, we

don’t really see what makes them unique. We cannot truly measure and judge others unless we

are them or have a complete understanding of who they are. There are individuals however, who

unfortunately are not able to truly identify themselves. They never truly know who they are.

Especially now where we are too entertained by technology, we no longer stop to truly get to

know our selves. In a similar fashion, speculative authors in science fiction create worlds in

which they describe problems like this and “speculate” about things that would happen if they

were taken to an extreme. It is through these speculative elements that authors warn about the

loss of individuality when advancements in technology and social ideas are made. In these

stories, as these ideas and technologies develop, humans become more like machines in that they

experience varying degree of no longer being able think freely nor feel emotion, and to

compensate they turn to the modern technologies and ideas which conflict with their morals. It is
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through these speculations that the readers see that such ideas very well depict what our own

society is like and as a result work as a cautionary tale for our very world.

As these stories warn, as a society, becoming too enveloped in ideas clouds the morals of

individuals and as a result, they then begin to disregard each other. As evident in Ursula Le

Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, this disregard for human life is displayed

through the population’s reactions and actions towards the child that is kept locked in the room.

With the discovery of the child, the reader learns that “[The people of Omelas] all know its

there,” they understand “that it has to be there” for the “happiness”, ”beauty”, “tenderness”,

“health”, “wisdom”, and “abundance” and that it all depends on “this child’s abominable

misery”(Le Guin 3). As evident, the people of Omelas depend on the child’s suffering in order to Commented [LBD'1]: Omelas essay, moved
around analysis
prosper as a society and as such, they do not do much to help this child. By not helping the child,

they place a higher value on the prosperity of their city as a whole than on the life of the child.

With this in mind, the people of Omelas find it easy to place the child in such conditions. They

dehumanize it, deeming it unworthy to live so as to let their city succeed. Even those who “walk

away from Omelas” know that if the child were helped, “in the day and hour, all the prosperity

and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed” (4). The action of them

leaving Omelas shows that they don’t agree with the idea of keeping the child locked up but the

idea of good fortune and well-being for the city remains a part of their decision to leave in the

first place. They could very well help the child and show compassion and risk the good of

Omelas but once more, seeing the child as less than human makes it hard make a decision

regarding the prosperity of a society. They show their priorities lie with Omelas regardless of

whether or not they agree on keeping the child locked up. It seems as if deep down, they want

the child to remain locked up. In similar fashion, Octavia Butler’s Speech Sounds, displays what
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would happen in a world without anybody being able to communicate with each other. Without

any way to share thoughts and ideas, the characters turn to acts of violence as a way of getting

others to understand them. When Obsidian arrives at the bus scene, he gasses the bus to evacuate

the bus as a fight rages on inside, “[Obsidian’s] revolver was on constant display. Apparently

that was enough for the bus driver” (Butler 4). Although he was unable to verbally communicate Commented [LBD'2]: Speech Sounds essay, I
changed the analysis, but I kept the overall idea of
with the bus driver, Obsidian, kept his gun on display as a means showing that he was attempting the particular paragraph for my speech sounds
essay
to take control of the situation and that he was not going to allow for the fight to persist.

Although he doesn’t hurt anyone, this very notion shows that he is willing to put people down if

they are a danger to others around them. This demonstrates that there is a certain point to which

he will decide the value of one human life over another. He cannot simply tell people to stop

fighting, and therefore has to place a value on their lives and decide whether or not their life is

worth sparing or not. This is a form of dehumanizing, placing value on the lives of others and

taking actions based on such shows that with out being able to communicate darkens our

perceptions of others and their humanity.

As our technology advances and we learn more about our universe, we become more

attached to it, falling touch of ourselves, our emotions and those who surround us. Becoming to

attached to material objects and technology provides no sense of satisfaction overall. In William

Gibson’s Burning Chrome, Bobby, a hacker, becomes obsessed material goods and loses himself

as these things do not provide a sense of satisfaction. As the text says, “He had some basic pride

in his skill, but that was never enough to keep him pushing. So he made do with women. When

Rikki showed up, he needed one in the worst way. He was fading fast, and smart money was

already whispering that the edge was off his game” (Gibson 204). As this quote states, Bobby

doesn’t have much to live for. He accepts the fact that he is a good “console cowboy”, but that
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isn’t enough to keep him pushing through. As a result, he turns to women and sex as a way of

distracting himself from the loneliness and helplessness that plague him as a result of his

dependence of money. He wants to make lots of money but is far more satisfied in being able to

say that he stole it. His reputation and character reflect that he only cares about what others think

of him as shown when the narrator says that “smart money” was beginning to say that he could

no longer keep up with them. Similar losses of emotion are visible through Chrome and Rikki.

When Jack and Bobby take all of Chrome’s money, Jack begins to reflect on the consequences

for Chrome, “How many enemies would she have in this crowd alone? How many would move,

now they weren’t held back by fear of her money? We’d taken her for everything she had. She

was back on the street again. I doubted she’d live till dawn” (218). By taking what Chrome has

defined herself to be, Bobby and Jack have in a way stolen part of Chrome’s identity. She has

lost a part of who she was a s a result of her dependency of money. As the text shows, people

held back actions against her because of her money and the actions she would take had they

tried. Without her money to protect her, Chrome was left hopeless, with no protection and no one

to stand beside her as because everyone who surrounded her was only there for her money. She

effectively does not have friends, only people who worked for her. Similarly, Rikki deals with

herself with technology and money. As the text describes it, her line of work in the House of

Blue Lights is “3 our shifts in approximation of REM sleep” while her body and reflexes “took

care of business”. The customers were also “torn between needing someone and wanting to be

alone at the same time” (220). Though this is sex work, Rikki does not mind so long as her bills

get paid and she doesn’t have to be conscious during the act. This advanced form of sex work

shows what technology does to human desire. In this world, there is no love in the sex and no

emotional connection. The workers are literally unconscious the entire time showing that this
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society does not value the emotional connection that can be experienced during sex. They

disconnect themselves from each other as to leave the other alone. As the text describes, the

customers want this relationship. Without the effort and emotions that that occur during

relationships. They want human connection but don’t feel the need to actually put in the effort to

create a relationship that can provide the privacy and company that they desire. The technology

prevents Rikki from connecting with others and Chrome with society as a whole.

With a loss of emotion and a lack of communication comes the true chaos that

overwhelms a society and sends it crumbling. As seen in Speech Sounds with Rye and Obsidian,

this creates a sense of and insecurities, “She returned his gaze, very much aware of the old forty-

five automatic her jacket concealed” (Butler 3). Here, Rye demonstrates that she needs to use her

gun to feel safe. Regardless of whether or not she hurts someone, she knows that people will

only leave her alone if she has a way of defending herself. Because she is unaware of Obsidian’s

intentions, she needs to feel safe and keeps a close watch on his hands, where they move and

what they do, and that her own hands are on her gun should it be required. In this scenario,

everyone is in a way left to fend for themselves. With this mentality, it’s no wonder that Rye and

the rest of the people on the bus are so uncomfortable when the two guys on the bus begin

fighting. They are unable to dictate when someone is about to blow their fuse and do not get

involved. Our society does the same in that we tend to avoid situations that put us in danger our

make us feel uncomfortable and as a result we decide to avoid each other in general, especially

with ourselves glued to our screens.

With ideas that completely change the way we think about the world around us and

material goods, we see a world not very different to our own. Of course, as a society we’ve

progressed so far as to see a sort of dependence on technology and money. We have let social
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ideas and beliefs change our perceptions of the world despite traditional world views and beliefs.

As seen communication is key to being able to communicate with others. In effect, the very idea

of being unable to communicate with others is a very real possibility in a world where we turn to

machines to help us connect with others. Sooner or later we’ll be unable to communicate

effectively and perhaps we might resort to unorthodox methods of communication. Those

speculative elements of prosperous societies where we must sacrifice people and being unable to

communicate are merely reflections of what we currently face as a society. As a society we’ve

systematically created a system where were repress groups to not allow them to develop and, in a

way, keep them locked away like the child from Omelas. Like those who walk away, we see the

wrong in this system and yet we do very little to actually support these groups. Our world is not

much different from these that authors speculate about.

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Works Cited

Gibson, William, Burning Chrome. Print

Le Guin, Ursula. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”. The Wind’s Twelve Quarters:

Short Stories. Print.

Butler, Octavia. Speech Sounds. Print.