Final Blog

Readings: 76

Movies: 18

Attendance: 13

Future Tense Activity: 2

Total points: 109

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Babel-17 (5 Points)

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...
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Lady in the Water (1 point)

             I have a confession to make: I’ve seen this movie once before. I saw it once when I was very young, but I had no idea what was going on in the movie. Since then I'd seen many a review and analysis since, and still barely understood what happened in the movie. So, now I’ve seen Lady in the Water in over a decade and I’m still not quite sure what I saw. I think I just witnessed M. Night Shyamalan have a mental breakdown in movie form? This is genuinely one of the most fascinating movies I’ve ever seen in my life. I feel so bad for his daughters who he wrote this as a bedtime story for. Imagine being a little girl and hearing this insane story read to you before bed.              Almost nothing works how I assume Shyamalan intended it to and it results in a nightmare that I just can’t look away from. It's amazing how nothing and everything is happening at the same time. I think Shya...
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I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (1 Point)

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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...
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