During the 1980s and 1990s, whenever Hollywood needed a scientific discovery that would radically alter our society or threaten our way of life, it would turn to information technology, towards the development of artificial intelligence, or towards computer hacking. [1]
Ich bin ein Cyborg. Wir alle sind Cyborgs. Denn als Menschen im Zeitalter der Wissenschaft verschmelzen wir immer mehr mit dem technologischen Fortschritt um uns herum. Nirgendswo ist das deutlicher als in der Medizin. Wir können Körperteile ersetzen, von Zahnimplantaten bis zu künstlichen Gelenken wie Hüfte oder Knie, von Herzschrittmachern bis zum Cochlea-Implantat für Gehörlose, von plastischer Chirurgie bei Verbrennungen bis hin zu Arm- oder Beinprothesen für Amputierte.
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Als Margaret Atwood ihren Roman Oryx und Crake, den 2003/2005 erschienenen ersten Teil ihrer MaddAddam-Trilogie schrieb, da bemerkte sie bestimmte Trends in der naturwissenschaftlichen Forschung und konnte als Autorin spekulativer Romane wohl nicht umhin, über die Konsequenzen dieser Trends nachzudenken.
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Cyberpunk, as has been pointed out in the introduction to this volume, is ideally equipped to negotiate the boundaries of humanist categories and their claim to universal subjectivity. The cultural formation, in all its forms and practices, is thus contributing to critical posthumanism by challenging those boundaries and providing expression for Donna Haraway’s claim that the “dichotomies between mind and body, animal and human, organism and machine, public and private, nature and culture, men and women, primitive and civilized are all in question ideologically” (163) due to late-20th century technocultural changes.
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In her discussion of technoscience, Donna Haraway draws upon the vampire to represent the ‚vectors of infection‘ that infuse current ‚bioscientific constructions of universal humanity‘.[1] The vampire provides the ideal imagery to describe the transgressions, transformations and constant renegotiations of categories that haunt the posthuman existence of the technoscientific age. And indeed, vampires have ‚the power to move between and undo borders otherwise holding identities in place‘. As Erik Butler claims: Their ‚affinity for rupture, change, and mutation‘[2] makes them posthuman creatures in more than one sense.
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Es ist ein verbreitetes Klischee, dass die Fantastik im Gegensatz zur ‚echten Literatur’ (!) einzig dem Eskapismus diene und kaum zu mehr tauge als triviale Affekte im Leser zu produzieren. Doch diese Lesart der Fantastik ist weder besonders kreativ noch besonders ergiebig.
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With a combined revenue of close to 3 billion dollars at the box office worldwide, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy (2012-14) occupies a secure place (three, actually, as each film is rated separately) among the top 35 highest grossing films of all time (cf. “All Time Box Office”, n.p.). The films were a world-wide success, garnered awards, produced an avalanche of merchandise and tie-ins, and managed to extend the Middle-earth film franchise beyond the scope of its original entry, the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03).
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As one looks around today, it almost feels like the impact of technology on our daily lives can scarcely be overstated. Innovations in the digital realm have revolutionized the way we move, work, interact, learn, etc. in short the way we are. It is important then for popular literature for young adult (YA) to consider these issues, especially as it addresses a readership that is often the most directly affected by these technological changes at a time of formative “physical, cognitive, social, and psychological development” (Latrobe and Drury 4).
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In seinem Buch Postmodern Theory and BLADE RUNNER beschreibt Matthew Flisfeder die Charakteristika postmoderner Kulturproduktion und verweist dabei vor allem auf das angespannte Verhältnis der Postmoderne zur Geschichte.
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Paolo Bacigalupi is one of science fiction’s most outspoken voices on issues of environmentalism; thus it is no wonder that his work has garnered critical attention whenever “climate fiction” (abbreviated as “cli-fi”) or “eco-fiction” is mentioned (see, for example, Berry).
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