experienceIf faith was taken out of the equation and all an individual would have to do is submit to God’s will to be saved, why would she turn down paradise? Michael Tolkin’s 1991 film, The Rapture, asks this question, but there are no easy answers.
The Architecture of Destruction in “The Terminal Beach” and “The Machine Stops”
Shanna Dixon argues that J.G. Ballard’s “The Terminal Beach” and E.M Forster’s “The Machine Stops” illustrate attempts at reconciling inner-space and outer-space and maintain that science and technology will ultimately lead to humanity’s non-existence.
Relinquishing Control in “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” and “The Grand Inquisitor”
Time and religion have always served as means by which humanity satisfies its preoccupation with order and purpose. However, in Ellison’s “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” and Dostoyevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” humanity’s obsession with structure has forced it to become subservient to the elements that were intended for its own advancement.
The Artificiality of Human Emotion in Dick’s Androids
In the prophetic novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick projected into the future a vision of a world where the subtle differences distinguishing androids from the humans who created them disappear to a point where the protagonist, Rick Deckard, begins to discover difficulties in killing the androids.
The Transcendence of a Marketable “American Dream”
In Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the post-World War Terminus civilizations are left with radioactive-dust, shattered religions and a desire for a collective unity. Despite some of the socialist undertones that transcend in Mercerism, there also lies a huge component of American ideology that transcends as well: a notion of an American Dream.
The Fiction of Reality
Arthur C. Clarke’s, Childhood’s End bends the common notion of scientific understanding by showing the limited possibilities when identifying with the physical, and it explores the unlimited powers of the metaphysical through the metamorphosis of the children. Clarke privileges a physical real notion of truth which leads to humanity’s destruction, and the same theoretical fiber limits the Overlord’s ability to evolve.
Religious and Scientific Convergence in Clarke’s “The Star”
In Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star,” religion and science converge in order to assist humanity in its quest for universal knowledge. What happens when humanity achieves the knowledge it seeks, but it does not match certain expectations, or provides more information than humanity can truly handle?