Nick Berger's Blog

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?  That was…a lot. There’s a lot to unpack with the relationship between the Tlic and the Terrans. It’s disgusting in a literal sense, but it also mirrors a lot of things going on in the real world. Their parasitic relationship, which the Tlic make out to seem mutually beneficial, reminds me of how some white people view Black people. In America, the whites are the ruling race, like the Tlic in the Preserve. They make it seems like Black people are just part of the “mutually beneficial” system of capitalism, but really, they are an oppressed class, being used to further the wealth of those in charge. This parallels how the Tlic use the Terrans as host bodies for their young, but make it seem like they’re doing the Terrans a favor by “protecting” them, when in reality they are putting them in harm’s way.  2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?...

A lot of Metropolis barely feels like fiction at this point, at least when it comes to its commentary on society. As a matter of fact, it weirdly feels like a predecessor to Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite. Both visually portray class in similar ways; the working class literally live under the upper-class, who don’t really care about those beneath them. Sure, you can argue it’s a bit of an obvious visual metaphor, but I don’t think it takes away from how effective it is. I’d argue that some of the most powerful imagery seems obvious. It speaks to the core of what it’s representing, in this case how the working class is seen as below the upper class. It’s kind of hard to analyze it beyond that, because the film sums it up better than I could with its final card: “The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart.”

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is the evil A.I. story to end all evil A.I. stories. AM is a being of pure hatred who takes glee in psychological and physical torture. I have to give it to AM, he is creative in his torture; if you’re gonna be evil, might as well go all out. He’s the personification of cynicism and nihilism towards humanity. A being who saw both the best and worst of humanity and decided our best wasn’t even close to good enough.  We tend to think of advanced A.I. as overly rational, but I find that AM is closer to what a truly sentient A.I. can be. If it’s supposed to be so human, why would it be rational? Because it’s smart? Even the smartest of us give in to emotion. Our emotions and irrationality are what really make us human in the abstract sense. I wonder, is AM aware of how evil he is? Is he aware of the hypocrisy and just doesn’t care, or does he see it as a necessary evil? Or is he like Ted, the narrator, who sees himself as the best of them despite be...

I really love how counterculture is portrayed in Babel-17. The book almost presents transhumanist elements as something that’s inevitable. Like, of course people who don’t fit in will give themselves giant fangs or fleshy wings; we already pierce our skin and give ourselves horns, so it’s not like we’re far off. It really taps into that idea that some members of marginalized groups say “fuck it, if society’s going to put us down for being ourselves, we might as well give in to our wildest ideas.” It’s kind of a fun part of not being a part of the mainstream, right? Just being able to go nuts and have fun with your appearance and having that be accepted. I think that’s what the book really conveyed to me through its descriptions; a sense of fun and playfulness with self-image. I feel like that’s elevated when these people with out-there body mods are juxtaposed with the customs officer who’s put off by them. Basically, it’s like putting some weird people next to a narc and saying “do y...

Ship’s Boy is very obviously a story about being part of a marginalized group. More than that, it’s about being a marginalized person and still being undervalued even once you’ve proven that you’re far more capable than people think you are. There’s an exchange that illustrates this perfectly. At this point, David is essentially being asked to go on a suicide mission to save the ship from an enemy attack. The captain, after clarifying this, goes on to praise him for how brave and competent he is, telling him that the House of Marcus will make sure he’s well cared for. Then David says that all he wants to do is be a ship’s engineer. The captain laughs this off and says that he’ll try to pull some strings if they survive. He then says, “A Rabbit as a ship’s engineer? David, you simply must be reasonable about certain things!” Even after all the praise, even after he’s proven how intelligent and brave he is, the captain still sees him as just a Rabbit.   The saddest thing is whe...