Metaphysical Science Fiction

The premiere issue of Big Jelly centers around what might be to some an oxymoron: metaphysical science fiction. By this, we mean science fiction that has an element of the mystical, the other-other worldly, or the posthuman. It’s science fiction that examines the limits of science, reason, and technology.

The selection “metaphysical science fiction” was taken primarily from the new wave, cyberpunk, and post-cyberpunk authors and filmmakers that use science and technology as a catalyst for examining human spiritual yearnings and dilemmas. While much science fiction heralds a future of technically enhanced humanity, replete with robots, phasers, and space ships, our concern will be with the philosophical needs that science seems unable to address, especially when it relates to “human” identity and evolution.

One essay was chosen for each section of the course: Convergence, Divergence, and Transcendence. The winners of the contest are feature in this, the first issue.

 Articles

Convergence

“Religious and Scientific Convergence in Clarke’s ‘The Star’”

Brandi Oates examines Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star” and 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. Read the article.

Divergence

“The Fiction of Reality”

Alex Zoltak argues that 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. Read the article.

Transcendence

“Transcendance of a Marketable ‘American Dream’”

Tyler Estes looks at Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and argues that 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. Read the article.

“The Artificiality of Human Emotion in Dick’s Androids“

William Lindberg’s essay states that 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. Read the article.