Category: Reflection + Write-Up (Page 1 of 2)

Abstract

This Write-Up looks into different aspects of Commercialized Science-Fiction and it’s impact that it has on society. It looks into how these particular Science-Fiction texts are made through the effects that merchandising and fandom play into a text’s content. This research also looks into the idea that the success of Commercialized Science-Fiction texts comes from the generalization of story elements and overall attempts at trying to be as all inclusive as possible with; collective audiences need to have a generalized story in order to gain their interest and this is then interpolated to give entertainment at the expense of losing out on a story that could’ve been more subjectively compelling and interesting. Examples are brought up in this research, including Star Wars, Warhammer 40,000, Marvel, Transformers, and Doctor Who; each of these texts and the products that were made around them have their own nuances that relate to the magnitude of their success. Star Wars and the Marvel cinematic universe are juxtaposed to one another because of the acquisition of both of these franchises by Disney and Warhammer 40,000 and Transformers are juxtaposed because of their focus on creating a product before actually making a text to accompany the work; Transformers in particular was seen as more successful, but at the cost of creating text that involved appealing to a younger demographic whereas Warhammer 40,000 focused more on telling a complex story not easily grasping the interest of people considered to be up to date with the “social norm”. The observance of these texts is warranted because these are reflections of the tastes that society has and is modeled after the likes of social norms; this begs the question of whether or not society’s interest in general Science-Fiction works should be redacted in favor of texts that can offer more in stimulation of the mind beyond mere visual spectacle and character appeal through marketing methods geared to do so.

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I will be discussing a science fiction creation called Terraforming. Terraforming which means “Earth-Shaping” is an idea taken from science fiction and mixed with real science. It basically deals with modifying another planet’s atmosphere, temperature, and surface to be similar or exactly like earth. It makes other planets habitable by Human beings, and any type of plant life of our own planet. Touching on the history of terraforming, and its current capabilities I want to then dive into the moral and ethical issues people raise when dealing with changing other worlds to fit humanity’s needs. “Some people consider the idea of terraforming Mars heretical – humanity playing God,” said by Dr. Zubrin an American Aerospace Engineer. He went on further to state that “others would see in such an accomplishment the most profound vindication of the divine nature of the human spirit, exercised in its highest form to bring a dead world to life”. People see it as favoring human interests and could possibly lead to the extinction of indigenous extraterrestrial life, or the Interplanetary contamination. We don’t know what’s really out there in our universe we have already brought our own planet to its knees, and possibly beyond the point of no return to some critics. Humanity has also driven to extinction to many animals and sentient beings on our very own planet, and bringing that to another world isn’t ethical. Touching on its ethical aspects I will provide detailed explanation on what exactly are the ethics behind terraforming, and what groups these ethical constructs belong to.

My main goal is to try and answer the question why we want to terraform another planet to fit humanity’s needs. Why does Humanity want to leave the earth, so badly, and not want to fix what we have done to our own planet before searching for another? Is our planet earth really too far gone to save, or is it more cost effective to invade and terraform another? Science fiction has dealt with the idea of leaving earth and making other planet earth like to hold life, I want to research the idea why the writers wanted to start their stories on other planets. In finding out why in reality we want to leave earth, I can find understanding why writers want us to explore it.

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Abstract

The parallels between Military Science Fiction and real-world military weapons is by no means a mere coincidence. In addition, these parallels have benefited the U.S. military in terms of offensive weaponry and defenses. The fact of the matter is that most of the weapon development by the U.S. military is done through the inspiration drawn by Science Fiction films. Where the appearance of a weapon is taken into account and weapon engineers have to determine whether or not a particular weapon is implementable. Which leads to the question: If so, how? Several approaches must be taken to correspond with the weapon development such as the design process. Should a particular weapon have a “strange” appearance? There are also decisions made in terms of the lethality of the weapon, which ultimately leads to applied limitations on a weapon if they are deemed too powerful.  Lastly, there are moral issues to consider relative to a newly developed weapons.  Should they be lethal or non-lethal? If there are many factors that affect the production of these weapons; how can the U.S. military benefit from these parallels?

The first benefit will be the idea of developing biologically enhanced soldiers, in other words super soldiers. They are like human soldiers except they represent the stereotypical image of super humans. Which are individuals that are able to surpass beyond the capabilities of any regular person. Another Is the development of laser rifles, as they are very popular throughout Science Fiction films. They benefit the military in terms of the element of surprise however, they were made non-lethal. In addition, there is also the future production of auto-piloted aircrafts that are able to travel at unbelievable velocities and altitudes. Not to mention that the structure of the aircraft resembles designs from popular Science Fiction films. Lastly, one of the most important aspects to talk about when these parallels are being developed, is the limitations applied to the weapon in order to allow them to correspond with moral standards. This in turn, is probably one of the most influential aspects that is considered during the implementation process. The decision to make it lethal and non-lethal really depends on what a particular weapon is used for. Overall, these parallels have benefited the U.S. military in more ways than one.

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Abstract:

This is a paper about a lot of things. Namely how mediums of sci-fi interact with the world in a real way. Sci-fi is typically deemed too fantastical to be taken seriously which is a load of malarky. As a matter of fact, it’s perhaps the most grounded thing in a world that’s rapidly accelerating to the far-flung future popularly portrayed in sci-fi movies and novels of yesteryear. It’s about the division of responsibility when it comes to the worlds collective future.

Look at it like this, the three branches of technological development are these: the engineers who actually bring life to creations that enable such things to be possible, the civilization of people who theoretically live under these people, not literally just in the sense that they are the consumers and the market the engineers cater to, and the writers/directors/actors/producers/developer/musicians/artists who bring these worlds to life. And of course perhaps the most human thing about their relationship and the single thing that needs to be righted or at least done more is communication.

Trying to make the point that they all have a role to play in the development of our future. The roles go as such:

• The “creatives” for lack of a better word, need to put the world together. There is a power in being able to see how the world can go awry. Considering theres is the platform that reaches the most people it can be argued that this should be the earliest/first step in the development of further technology.
• The society needs to be more receptive and more acknowledging of there own issues. They have problems that need to be worked out which are there own and the ones that can probably be resolved by engineers. They receive the media and need to make informed opinions on future trends so that they can inform engineers of what they need to do.
• The engineers are the most receptive of the bunch. They need to be aware of what media is doing to see what they can do to be more like or more not like that. While they are developing that, society needs to also be absorbing media and tell these guys what to do and what not to do.

Ultimately each of these branches needs to be in communication with one another so that everything doesn’t go horribly wrong.

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Abstract:

Many of the science fiction literature, films and movies depict artificial intelligence that resembles a female figure. But, why do the majority of robotic creations resemble the females figure? Where does this idea come from? Over the past decades, these women-appearing robots have gained popularity in the sci-fi genre as it has been shown through old films such as Metropolis, in which its robotic creation depicts a sensual female form, to earliest films such as Ex-Machina, in which the robotic entity portrays to a young, beautiful, and vulnerable woman. But these female robots not only form part of the science fiction genre, they also have become reality as many of today’s robots possess female attributes and a resemblance to the woman body. But the idea of developing female-like humanoids comes from the science fiction term genre known as gynoid. A gynoid also known as fembot is a concept that appears in the science fiction genre to refer to a humanoid robot that possess female attributes. The term has gained popularity in the science fiction genre over the past years since many of the robots that are shown in films and movies depict beautiful and sexy female features. In the actuality, the term gynoid has brought to reality as many of the robotic designs that have been developed, clearly portrays a female appearance rather than just simply robotic machine. The concept of gynoids has sparked new areas of debate and controversy in today’s society as a surprisingly amount of the robotic artificial brains depict female bodies and personalities. While some people argue these robotic gynoids can be used for caretaking, teaching, and as an incentive to get women interesting in robotic careers, the clear majority oppose this argument by stating that the development of these female robots bring problems that significantly affect the female gender. Although this essay shows the positive points female robots can create to society, by analyzing how gynoids appear in the science fiction genre and how they have translated into reality, the essay’s main focus is to explore how these robotic gynoids contribute with the objectification of women, creating these false stereotypes that affects the female group.

 

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Hey all, in this project the main focus is to study how Science fiction film explores the idea that people suffer from a limited perception reality through dream sequences. This paper looks into various things like setting, dialogue and other sources in order to see what they portray about perceiving reality. This paper creates its claims by first answering  what is simulation? what is dreaming? and how do they relate? The reason being that many films portray these two experiences as very similar. This paper also researches the various connections films go into in order to portray simulation as though it were dreaming.

The films used in this paper is a list of five which include Lathe Of Heaven, Inception, Total Recall, Avatar and The Matrix. Each film was hand picked for this due to the fact that they all show various examples of dream like sequences and how they effect the main characters of their films. What’s interesting about this list is that each film holds its place in science fiction, each film also tackles various different plots and or issues making it a very diverse collection to look at. The secondary sources are very interesting to, one is a book called Science Fiction Philosophy which presents a  large collection of philosophical works that connect to science fiction.

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The second book is called Terminal Identity, which was very helpful when trying to find various definitions on how and what simulation is. Dreams on film was another book that discusses how films use dream sequence and it critically analyzes a variety of dreams shown on films. Some excerpts from Descartes’s meditations were used since they were the basis of allot of  Cartesian doubt, which is a recurring theme in this essay that must be explained. An article called Simulacra and science fiction was used in order to explore how science fiction portrayal of simulation, dreams, imaginary etc. can  be understood. It makes claims on how the real and false should be understood. Lastly  two definitions from Merriam Webster’s dictionary in order to begin start of on the research.

By the end of this paper readers should have a better understanding on how films use dream sequences in order to  retell many philosophical theories.