What Makes Us Human? Freedom and the Posthuman Age in
Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy
In this day and age humankind stands at the threshold of technologically mediated change from human to posthuman.I deeply believe that at the root of all posthuman conceptualizations lays an assumption that posthumanity is not the end of the human, rather it is simply a new kind of humanity with its beliefs, ideas and culture transformed.
In this paper I argue that Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy can be en as a narrative that ts a new paradigm for the considerations on the posthuman condition. I propo that the YA dystopian science-fiction narratives comment on personal freedom as a necessary component of human agency that must be prerved within the core of posthumanity.
In my view the concept of the posthuman epitomizes a particular frame of mind connected with the rapid progress of scientific inquiry. The implications of this process are addresd by Robert Pepperell in The Post-Human Condition. Pepperell maintains that the investigation of the posthuman possibilities is marked by “a distinct kind of lf-awareness of the human condition that owes something to our anxiety about, and our enthusiasm for, technological change” (1). Indeed, one of the characteristic of th
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e growing awareness on posthuman possibilities is the realization that for the first time in history science influences ways in which human life is not only lived, but also imagined and theorized about.
The experience of posthuman prospects is also addresd by N. Katherine Hayles who argues in How We Became Posthuman that humankind is deeply affected by a change of perspective on what it means to be human. This perspective is “mediated by a technology that has become so entwined with the production of identity that it can no longer meaningfully be
parated from the human subject” (xiii). Thus, the posthuman imaginings such as cyborgs or clones reveal themlves as a kind of thought experiments that extrapolate on future identities and values of posthumanity.
Almost always visions of the posthuman future imply mastery over human nature achieved with the help of biotechnology, a field of scientific inquiry which in the last decades has gained a prominent place within mainstream science,mainly due to its rapid advancements in eugenics. Michio Kaku poignantly describes in Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the21st Century that biotechnology is,in fact,a part of much bigger biomolecular revolution that,along with the quantum and the computer revolutions, constitutes “three elements [that] form the pillars of modern science” (7). Kaku
浓茶的危害also believes that the power of biotechnology will enable humankind to“make the transition from unraveling the crets of Nature to becoming masters of Nature” (10). Needless to say, when Kaku discuss mastery over nature he also ems to point into the direction of the nature of human beings.
Hope of attaining mastery over human nature spurs many posthumanists to dream of accelerating or even steering the cour of human evolution. In general, this idea holds that since humanity developed means to alter its genetic make-up it is only natural to enhance human capabilities. On the one hand, supporters of this view like Chris Hables Gray herald that such artificial evolution is in accord with the human nature itlf. Gray explains: “[o]ur technologies, our cultures, our will, and nature are weaving a future” (Cyborg Citizen 12). In other words, three should be no conflict on the matter becau desire to control our nature is encoded in human nature itlf. On the other hand, critics of biotechnological approach such as Francis Fukuyama point to the conquences that the experiments may result in. The gist of Fukuyama’s argument is that human nature is a source of values and to alter it is to modify the inmost values of humankind (Our Posthuman Future 218).
At this point I would like to discuss how biotechnology is portrayed in speculative fiction, particularly in science fiction narratives. First of all, the power of science fiction to engage with this notion is reco
gnized by Elaine Graham in Reprentations of the Posthuman. As Graham says “speculative forms of fiction—epitomized by science fiction—shock our assumptions and incite our critical faculties,” and by doing so provide new frameworks for envisioning biotechnology as a part of the posthuman future (3). Secondly, it ems that biotechnological turn in sciences calls for accurate respon from science fiction texts. In my view this trend is especially en in YA science fiction narratives. In New World Orders in Contemporary Children’s Literature Clare Bradford, Kerry Mallan, John Stephens and Robyn McCallum recognize the growing attentiveness to the posthuman in the novels for the young reader. The authors claim that such explorations not only equip young people with specific conceptual tools, but also provide them with an insight into “some (positive) n of being human” and how it relates to the posthuman (155-156).
期权定价In the light of the aforementioned theories I would like to highlight the main point of my paper, namely that Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy can be en as a mode of exploration of the human-posthuman relation. Set in the dystopian future, the novels disclo a society that alters the body of everyone who turns sixteen, changing people into unnaturally beautiful beings. Humans before the operation are called uglies, while the ones already altered are called pretties.
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The importance of the operation is underscored by educational system. Thanks to the propaganda th
e main protagonist, a young girl named Tally, is deeply convinced that desire to be beautiful is what “a million years of evolution had made … part of the human brain” (Uglies11). The operation is prented in a good light for one more reason; it eliminates randomness that characterizes the distribution of genes. In other words, randomness of the gene pool is perceived as a weakness that must be cured with biotechnological means.
What is more, it appears that the operation is a form of passage from shabby life in Uglieville into a luxurious lifestyle of New Pretty Town. The dystopian society plays on the emotions connected with this change when it forces children to play the game that prents simulated models of their future bodies. It is at this point that the reader is introduced to an opposing view on the operation. Tally’s best friend, Shay, spells out her apprehension towards the game: “[it] is just designed to make us hate ourlves” (Uglies27). Later Shay openly defies the system by pointing out to Tally: “you weren’t born expecting that kind of beauty in everyone, all the time. You just got programmed into thinking anything el is ugly” (Uglies 47). It is apparent that the novels underscore the interconnectedness of the state’s policy and the manipulation of a person’s body and mind.
The control over one’s body and mind is central to the theories developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault. In his minal Discipline and Punish Foucault obrves that one way to maintain po
wer is to convince people that there is a universal norm that needs to be obeyed. Very similar situation plays out in the Uglies trilogy.
The society prented in Westerfeld’s novels disclos yet another similarity to Foucault’s vision. Typically people think of their body as their own posssion, something that cannot be controlled by others—a stronghold of personal freedom. The body is en as an extension of the will, an instrument for experiencing the world. However, Foucault postulates that the body itlf is the subject to the policy of the state: “[a docile body] … may be subjected, ud, transformed and improved” (136). It is now the state that makes the body an extension of its own will. Thus, equally to the posthumanists’ belief, the body becomes literally a tool to be ud.
I believe that the above examples illustrate the Uglies trilogy can be en as an literary extrapolation on possible conquences of the biotechnological manipulation. The dangers
that stem from this form of intrusion into human nature are even more apparent when it is revealed that the operation changes not only physical characteristics, but also influences one’s mental capabilities. Tally learns this fact when she meets a marriage of doctors who inform her that the operation caus lesions in the brain that “are a part of the operation … It’s part of the way being pretty changes you” (Uglies 133).玉兰花什么时候开
This information is corroborated by Shay’s musings on the perfection of pretties. She tells Tally: “maybe when they do the operation—when they grind and stretch your bones to the right shape, peel off your face and rub all your skin away, and stick in plastic cheekbones so you look like everybody el, maybe after going through all of that you just aren’t very interesting anymore” (Uglies 30).
舞蹈女生For some reason lesions gradually diminish the personalities of new turned pretties, making them shadows of their former lves, dim and childish. Terrifyingly, the pretties turn into like-minded mass, never questioning the reality they live in.
施工员简历In the cond novel of the trilogy the reader learns that there is one more way to assume a posthuman form. The cond volume introduces specials—beings designed to strike terror becau of their“cruel beauty”and superhuman capabilities.However,there is a rious drawback in being a special. Dr. Cable—the mastermind that controls the state’s policy—informs Tally on biotechnological manipulations that shape emotional states of the people, she says: “we can make people pretty inside—empty and lazy and vapid—but we can also make them … [m]ore inten than you ever felt as an ugly, more alive than a wolf taking its prey” (Pretties45) Due to their superhuman abilities specials are plagued by a constant feeling of superiority. In the last part of the trilogy both Shay and
Tally change from pretties into specials and shortly after Shay begins to view the world as if “[e]veryone el was just wallpaper, a blurred background of listless chatter” (Specials5). Similarly, Tally starts to
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