scholarly journals Entropy’s Enemies: Postmodern Fission and Transhuman Fusion in the Post-War Era

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Jordan Burr
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Thomas Pynchon ◽  
Postmodern Fiction ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
Western Values ◽  
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Universe

In the early to mid-twentieth century, thermodynamic entropy—the inevitable diffusion of usable energy in the Universe—became a ubiquitous metaphor for the dissolution of Western values and cultural energy. Many Golden Age science fiction writers portrayed twentieth century technological progress as anti-entropic, a sign of Universal progress and unity which might postpone or negate both cultural and thermodynamic forms of entropy. Following the evolutionary metaphysics of Georg Hegel and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Golden Age science fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov imagined the creation of powerful collective beings whose unitary existence signified the defeat of entropy. In contrast, later literary postmodernists like Thomas Pynchon and Pamela Zoline often accepted and even exalted in the chaotic, liberating potential of entropy. In postmodern fiction, the disorder of entropy was often compared favorably to the stifling hegemony of cultural universalism. More broadly, these two responses might be understood to represent two societal stages of grief-- denial and acceptance—to the new trauma introduced to the world by the parallel concepts of cultural entropy and a Universal “heat death.”

scholarly journals Solidarity of the shaken: from the experience (Erlebnis) to history

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Belejkaničová
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Critical Dialogue ◽  
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Post War ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Usual Pattern

AbstractIn his Heretical Essays, Jan Patočka introduces the concept of the solidarity of the shaken. He argues that it emerges in the conditions of political violence—the frontline experience (Fronterlebnis). Moreover, Patočka brings into discussion the puzzling concepts of day, night, metanoia and sacrifice, which only further problematise the idea. Researching how other thinkers have examined the phenomenon of the frontline experience, it becomes obvious that Patočka did not invent the obscure vocabulary ex nihilo. Concepts such as frontline experience, sacrifice and the metaphors of the day and night were commonly used by thinkers in the inter-war and post-war eras in their examination of community (Gemeinschaft). This study aims to reconstruct the idea of the solidarity of the shaken as contextualized within a broader scholarly debate on the concept of community (Gemeinschaft). Through the critical dialogue between Patočka’s works and the works of Ernst Jünger and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, this study will portray how Patočka, in his discourse on the frontline experience, follows the usual pattern of overcoming one’s individuality, transcending and opening up to the constitution of solidarity. This paper will argue that Patočka defined the solidarity of the shaken in an attempt to revive the positive aspects of a community and break with the regressive (if not sinister) uses to which it was put in the twentieth century.

scholarly journals The Unsolved Problem of Stellar Origins

1996 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 533-549
Author(s):  
Charles J. Lada
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
High Energy Physics ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Observational Astronomy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Large Telescopes ◽  
The Universe

We now stand at the threshold of the 21st century having witnessed perhaps the greatest era of astronomical discovery in the history of mankind. During the twentieth century the subject of astronomy was revolutionized and completely transformed by technology and physics. Advances in technology that produced radio astronomy, infrared astronomy, UV, X and γ ray astronomy, large telescopes on the ground, in balloons, aircraft and space coupled with advances in nuclear, atomic and high energy physics forever changed the way in which the universe is viewed. Indeed, it is altogether likely that future historians of science will consider the twentieth century as the Golden Age of observational astronomy. As a measure of how far we have come in the last 100 years, recall that at the turn of this century the nature of spiral nebulae and of the Milky Way itself as an island universe were not yet revealed. The expansion of the universe and the microwave background were not yet discovered and exotic objects such as quasars, pulsars, gamma-ray bursters and black holes were not even envisioned by the most imaginative authors of science fiction. The interstellar medium, with its giant molecular clouds, magnetic fields and obscuring dust was unknown. Not even the nature of stars, these most fundamental objects of the astronomical universe, was understood.

scholarly journals Deceived by orchids: sex, science, fiction and Darwin

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIM ENDERSBY
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Popular Fiction ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
New Science ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
The Many

AbstractBetween 1916 and 1927, botanists in several countries independently resolved three problems that had mystified earlier naturalists – including Charles Darwin: how did the many species of orchid that did not produce nectar persuade insects to pollinate them? Why did some orchid flowers seem to mimic insects? And why should a native British orchid suffer ‘attacks’ from a bee? Half a century after Darwin's death, these three mysteries were shown to be aspects of a phenomenon now known as pseudocopulation, whereby male insects are deceived into attempting to mate with the orchid's flowers, which mimic female insects; the males then carry the flower's pollen with them when they move on to try the next deceptive orchid. Early twentieth-century botanists were able to see what their predecessors had not because orchids (along with other plants) had undergone an imaginative re-creation: Darwin's science was appropriated by popular interpreters of science, including the novelist Grant Allen; then H.G. Wells imagined orchids as killers (inspiring a number of imitators), to produce a genre of orchid stories that reflected significant cultural shifts, not least in the presentation of female sexuality. It was only after these changes that scientists were able to see plants as equipped with agency, actively able to pursue their own, cunning reproductive strategies – and to outwit animals in the process. This paper traces the movement of a set of ideas that were created in a context that was recognizably scientific; they then became popular non-fiction, then popular fiction, and then inspired a new science, which in turn inspired a new generation of fiction writers. Long after clear barriers between elite and popular science had supposedly been established in the early twentieth century, they remained porous because a variety of imaginative writers kept destabilizing them. The fluidity of the boundaries between makers, interpreters and publics of scientific knowledge was a highly productive one; it helped biology become a vital part of public culture in the twentieth century and beyond.

scholarly journals Life under another Sun: From Science Fiction to Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-39
Author(s):  
Michaël Gillon
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Copernican Revolution ◽  
The Universe

Initiated in the sixteenth century, the Copernican revolution toppled our Earth from its theological pedestal, revealing it not to be the centre of everything but a planet among several others in orbit around one of the zillions of stars of our Universe. Already proposed by some philosophers at the dawn of this major paradigm shift, the existence of exoplanets, i.e. planets in orbit around stars other than our Sun, remained suspected but unconfirmed for centuries. It is only in the last decade of the twentieth century that the first of these extrasolar worlds were found. Their seminal discoveries initiated the development of more and more ambitious projects that led eventually to the detection of thousands of exoplanets, including a few dozen potentially habitable ones, i.e. terrestrial exoplanets that could harbour large amounts of liquid water – and maybe life – on their surfaces. Upcoming astronomical facilities will soon be able to probe the atmospheric compositions of some of these extrasolar worlds, maybe performing in the process the historical detection of chemical signs of life light-years away. But while the existence of extraterrestrial life remains pure speculation for now, it has been a major theme of science fiction for more than a century. By creating countless stories of encounters between humans and alien forms of life, science-fiction authors have pursued, in a sense, the Copernican revolution, confronting us with the idea that not only could life be widespread in the Universe, but also that our species may be far from the Cosmic pinnacle in matters of intelligence and technological development.

The Reception of American Science Fiction in Japan

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadashi Nagasawa
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
American Science ◽  
Japanese Science ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S

American science fiction has been a significant source of ideas and imagination for Japanese creators: they have been producing extensive works of not only written texts but also numerous films, television shows, Japanese comics and cartoons (Manga and Animé), music, and other forms of art and entertainment under its influence. Tracing the history of the import of American science fiction works shows how Japan accepted, consumed, and altered them to create their own mode of science fiction, which now constitutes the core of so-called “Cool-Japan” content. Popular American science fiction emerged from pulp magazines and paperbacks in the early 20th century. In the 1940s, John W. Campbell Jr. and his magazine Astounding Science Fiction had great impact on the genre, propelling its “Golden Age.” In the 1960s, however, American science fiction seemed dated, but the “New Wave” arose in the United Kingdom, which soon affected American writers. With the cyberpunk movement in the 1980s, science fiction became part of postmodernist culture. Japanese science fiction has developed under the influence of American science fiction, especially after WWII. Paperbacks and magazines discarded by American soldiers were handed down to Japanese readers. Many would later become science fiction writers, translators, or editors. Japanese science fiction has mainly followed the line of Golden Age science fiction, which speculates on how science and technology affect the social and human conditions, whereas the New Wave and cyberpunk movements contributed to Japanese postmodernism. Japanese Manga, Animé, and special effects (SFX) television shows and films (Tokusatsu) are also closely related to science fiction and have developed under its influence. Even as works of the Japanese popular culture owe much to American science fiction, they have become popular worldwide.

scholarly journals Living with Speculative Infrastructures

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ziser
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ray Bradbury ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Century Science

This article looks at the California origins of much of Twentieth Century science fiction. It examines how the exploding growth and development of postwar California informed science fiction writers like Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and Philip K. Dick, and looks to their books for answers to twenty-first century dilemmas such as the uses of technology, the environment, and infrastructure.

Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers

1983 ◽  
Vol 43 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Patrick G. Hogan ◽  
Curtis C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
Century Science

scholarly journals Trinitizing the Universe: Teilhard’s Theogenesis and the Dynamism of Love

Open Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-169
Author(s):  
Ilia Delio
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin ◽  
Divine Life ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Trinity

Abstract The God-world relationship bears an ambiguous relationship between God’s immanent life and God’s life in history. The development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the early Church gave rise to a distinction between theologia and oikonomia. Bonaventure’s theology sought to express an economic trinitarianism without compromising the integrity of God’s life, thus maintaining divine immutability and divine impassibility. Twentieth century trinitarian theologies challenge the notion of divine immutability in light of modern science and radical suffering. This paper develops on the heels of twentieth century theology by focusing in particular on the philosophical shifts rendered by modern science and technology. In particular, the insights of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin are explored with regard to Trinity and evolution, precisely because Teilhard intuited that evolution and the new physics evoke a radically new understanding of God. Building on Teilhard’s insights, I suggest that divine creative love is expressed in a fourth mystery which Teilhard called ‟pleromization.” Pleromization is the outflow of divine creative union or, literally, God filling the universe with divine life. Teilhard recapitulates this idea in the evolution of Christ so that theologia and oikonomia are one movement of divine love. My principal thesis is that the Trinity is integrally related to the world; the fullness of divine love includes the personalization of created reality, symbolized by the Christ. To explore this thesis I draw upon the cyborg as the symbol of hybridization and permeable boundaries and interpret Trinitarian life in evolution as cyborg Christogensis. Using the Law of Three, I indicate why a new understanding of Trinitarian life involves complexification and thus a new understanding of Trinity in which the fullness of divine life includes created reality.

scholarly journals Representational and Attitudinal Sexual Objectification

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Cannon Rea
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Sexual Objectification ◽  
Experimental Psychologist ◽  
Us Air Force ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
The Relationship

“James Tiptree Jr.” is a pseudonym of Alice B. Sheldon, US Air Force intelligence officer, CIA analyst, experimental psychologist, and one of the most important and highly acclaimed science fiction writers of the twentieth century. Sheldon’s work as Tiptree (both fiction and nonfiction) deals with a variety of important feminist concerns—among them, sexism, misogyny, objectification, sexual assault, the “otherness” of women, and silencing. This paper explores in a philosophical mode some of the important insights about objectification conveyed in one of Tiptree’s most well-known stories, “’And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side.” These insights lead naturally to a characterization of sexual objectification that both avoids problems with standard philosophical characterizations and also sheds important light on the relationship between objectification and silencing.

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