scholarly journals Przez fantastykę do ekokrytyki. Zwrot ku science fiction

2021 ◽  
pp. 311-330
Author(s):  
Grażyna Gajewska
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
New Realism ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Disaster Science

The author puts forward the thesis that the challenges of the current times resulting from environmental change, the destruction of habitats and ecological disasters direct our sensibilities and aesthetics ever more tangibly towards the fantastic or ecofiction: (eco)horror, (eco)science fiction, or (eco)fantasy. However, while ecohorror mainly exposes the negative aftermath of the Anthropocene, culminating in inevitable disaster, science fiction offers leeway for a more speculative approach, enabling one to construct such visions of reality in which multispecies justice will be observed and cultivated. The author follows K.S. Robinson’s line of thinking that “science fiction is a new realism”, A. Ghosh’s analysis of the relationship between literature and ecology, and D. Haraway’s research on new ways of understanding the relationships between people and non-humans using the speculative potential of sci-fi. It is therefore suggested that there is a great need for a science fiction vision, aesthetic and narration that would be capable of guiding us out of the anthropocentric entanglement and the Anthropocene/Capitalocene into the Chthulucene (as conceived by Haraway).

scholarly journals Ecology and Science Fiction. Managing Imagination in the Age of the Anthropocene

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Grażyna Gajewska
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Imagination ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Disaster Science

When formulating proecological strategies, social imagination is devoted relatively little attention. Contribution of the humanities to the management in the age of the Anthropocene is most often perceived as explaining threats that we and the future human and non-human beings will have to face as a result of irresponsible environmental policies. Hence, the presumed task of the humanities (and social science) consists primarily in analyzing and presenting the causes and the processes which culminated in the climate crisis and the decline of biodiversity. However, such an approach does not allow this knowledge to be actively engaged in constructing alternative, proecological attitudes. Consequently, I argue in this paper that in order for the state of affairs to change one requires not only new scientific tools (methodology, language), but also new sensitivity and aesthetics. The author argues that the challenges of the current times, resulting from environmental change, destruction of habitats and ecological disasters, direct our sensibilities and aesthetics ever more tangibly towards the fantastic: horror, science fiction, or fantasy. However, while ecohorror mainly exposes the negative aftermath of the Anthropocene – culminating in the inevitable disaster – science fiction offers leeway for a more speculative approach, enabling one to construct such visions of reality in which multispecies justice will be observed and cultivated. It is therefore suggested that there is much need for a science fiction aesthetic and narration that would be capable of guiding us out of the anthropocentric entanglement and the Anthropocene into the Chthulucene (as conceived by Haraway).

scholarly journals Me, My Bot and His Other (Robot) Woman? Keeping Your Robot Satisfied in the Age of Artificial Emotion

Robotics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Rousi
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Sex Robots ◽  
Artificial Emotions ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Robotics

With a backdrop of action and science fiction movie horrors of the dystopian relationship between humans and robots, surprisingly to date-with the exception of ethical discussions-the relationship aspect of humans and sex robots has seemed relatively unproblematic. The attraction to sex robots perhaps is the promise of unproblematic affectionate and sexual interactions, without the need to consider the other’s (the robot’s) emotions and indeed preference of sexual partners. Yet, with rapid advancements in information technology and robotics, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence and indeed, artificial emotions, there almost seems the likelihood, that sometime in the future, robots too, may love others in return. Who those others are-whether human or robot-is to be speculated. As with the laws of emotion, and particularly that of the cognitive-emotional theory on Appraisal, a reality in which robots experience their own emotions, may not be as rosy as would be expected.

scholarly journals Testing for local adaptation and evolutionary potential along 1 altitudinal gradients in rainforest Drosophila: beyond laboratory estimates

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor K. O’Brien ◽  
Megan Higgie ◽  
Alan Reynolds ◽  
Ary A. Hoffmann ◽  
Jon R. Bridle
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Environmental Variation ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Altitudinal Gradients ◽  
Low Altitude ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTPredicting how species will respond to the rapid climatic changes predicted this century is an urgent task. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) use the current relationship between environmental variation and species’ abundances to predict the effect of future environmental change on their distributions. However, two common assumptions of SDMs are likely to be violated in many cases: (1) that the relationship of environment with abundance or fitness is constant throughout a species’ range and will remain so in future, and (2) that abiotic factors (e.g. temperature, humidity) determine species’ distributions. We test these assumptions by relating field abundance of the rainforest fruit fly Drosophila birchii to ecological change across gradients that include its low and high altitudinal limits. We then test how such ecological variation affects the fitness of 35 D. birchii families transplanted in 591 cages to sites along two altitudinal gradients, to determine whether genetic variation in fitness responses could facilitate future adaptation to environmental change. Overall, field abundance was highest at cooler, high altitude sites, and declined towards warmer, low altitude sites. By contrast, cage fitness (productivity) increased towards warmer, lower altitude sites, suggesting that biotic interactions (absent from cages) drive ecological limits at warmer margins. In addition, the relationship between environmental variation and abundance varied significantly among gradients, indicating divergence in ecological niche across the species’ range. However, there was no evidence for local adaptation within gradients, despite greater productivity of high altitude than low altitude populations when families were reared under laboratory conditions. Families also responded similarly to transplantation along gradients, providing no evidence for fitness trade-offs that would favour local adaptation. These findings highlight the importance of (1) measuring genetic variation of key traits under ecologically relevant conditions, and (2) considering the effect of biotic interactions when predicting species’ responses to environmental change.

scholarly journals Staying Alive: Science Fiction in the Age of the Anthropocene — Philip K. Dick’s Pessimistic Humanism

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tallulah Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Scientific Advancement ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

In recent years, literary studies have become increasingly invested in environmentalism. As science reveals the negative impacts of climate change, and demonstrates a growing concern for humanity’s contribution, literature operates as a form of cultural documentation. It details public awareness and anxieties, and acts as a conduit for change by urging empathetic responses and rendering ecological controversy accessible.To explore the relationship between literature and environmental politics, this paper will focus on the work of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, and his dystopian visions. In his particular brand of sci-fi, there is no future for humanity. Science and technology fail to pave the way for a better and fairer society, but rather towards, as far as Dick is concerned, extinction. He argues that scientific advancement distances us from reality and from a sense of “humanness”. His pessimistic futures are nihilistic but tender; nurturing a love for humanity even in, what he considers to be, its final hours.Unlike the work of other prominent sci-fi writers, Dick’s fiction does not look towards the stars, but is in many ways a return to earth. The barren landscapes of Mars and other planets offer no comfort, and the evolution of the human into cyborgs, androids and post human species is depicted as dangerous and regressive. Dick’s apocalyptic visions ground his readers in the reality around them, acting in the present for the sake of the earth and humanity’s survival. His humanism is critical of grand enlightenment ideas of “progressivism”, and instead celebrates ordinariness. In the shadow of corporate capitalism and violent dictatorial governments, Dick prefers the little man, the ordinary everyday domestic hero for his narratives. His fiction urges us to take responsibility for our actions, and prepares us for the future through scepticism and pessimism, and a relentless fondness for the human.

scholarly journals MITOLOGÍA Y CIENCIA FICCIÓN: EL CASO DE MYTHS OF THE NEAR FUTURE DE JAMES G. BALLARD

2022 ◽  
pp. 793-815
Author(s):  
Juan VARO ZAFRA
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Literature And Science ◽  
Fantasy Fiction ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Narrative Production ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Short Narrative ◽  
The Way

La relación entre mitología y ciencia ficción es paradójica: si, teóricamente, la ciencia ficción se presenta como opuesta del mito; en su producción narrativa recurre frecuentemente a personajes y esquemas míticos, materializando su dimensión prospectiva a través de la actualización evemerista o alegórica de mitos. Este trabajo revisa críticamente los presupuestos teóricos que escinden la literatura de ciencia ficción de los relatos míticos y la literatura fantástica. A continuación, analizaremos el modo en que James G. Ballard afronta esta cuestión en su narrativa breve, particularmente en Myths of the Near Future, que sobrepasa estas diferencias y plantea un nuevo marco teórico común entre literatura fantástica y mítica y la ciencia ficción. Abstract: The relationship between mythology and science fiction is paradoxical: if, theoretically, science fiction is presented as the opposite of myth; in its narrative production, science fiction frequently resorts to mythical characters and schemes, materializing their prospective dimension through the evemerist or allegorical updating of myths. This work critically reviews the theoretical assumptions that divide science fiction literature from mythical stories and fantasy fiction. Next, it analyzes the way in which James G. Ballard addresses this question in his short narrative, particularly in Myths of the Near Future, which goes beyond these differences and raises a new common theoretical framework between fantasy and mythical literature and science fiction.

scholarly journals ‘A Kind of Sensory, Strange Thing to Experience’: Speaking Environmental Disaster in the Sea Empress Project Archive

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Environmental Disaster ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Sensory Event ◽  
Modern Britain ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores embodied encounters with the Sea Empress oil spill of 1996 and their representation in oral narratives. Through a close reading of the personal testimonies collected in the Sea Empress Project archive, I examine the relationship between intense sensory experiences of environmental change and everyday interpretations of the disaster and its legacy. The art­icle first outlines the ways in which this collection of voices reveals sensory memories, embodied affects and narrative choices to be deeply entwined in oral representations of the spill, disclosing a ‘sensory event’ that created a powerful awareness of both environmental surroundings and their relationship to everyday social processes. Then, reading these narratives against-the-grain, I argue that narrators’ accounts tell a paradoxical story of a disaster that most now wish to forget, and reveal an ambivalent legacy of environmental change that is similarly consigned to the past. Finally, I relate this social forgetting of the Sea Empress to the wider history of environmental consciousness in modern Britain.

Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Functions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswald J. Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter reflects on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Drawing connections between ecosystem functions and ecosystem services can make the concept of sustainability less nebulous. It offers tangible ways to translate science into practice by revealing the intricacies of nature and the many threads that link humans to nature through such intricacies. Establishing such connections illustrates why it is important to ensure that ecosystem functions endure. The chapter shows how the New Ecology is helping us appreciate how and why the complex ways that species that have evolved and forged interdependencies with each other matter to sustainability. It argues that maintaining diversity within ecosystems ensures that a wide range of options is available for adapting to environmental change.

Imagining the Future

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Torok ◽  
Paul Holper
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Technological Breakthrough ◽  
The Future ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Changing World

Flying through time and flying in cars. Living underwater and living forever. Robot servants. 3D printed food. Wouldn’t it be amazing if science fiction became science fact? We’re living in a rapidly changing world. Hardly a week passes without an exciting technological breakthrough. That’s the power of human innovation – it never stops happening. Inventors keep inventing. Get prepared for the fantastic future with this guide to the unbelievable and incredible inventions just over the horizon. Invisibility, instant transportation, holograms and lots of gadgets were once the dreams of science fiction … now they might become science fact! Imagining the future is the first step in arriving there. If you can dream it, perhaps one day you can invent it. Strap yourself in and get ready for the future! Imagining the Future is perfect for kids aged 9-13.

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