SynopsisDyson Spheres. Soylent Green. Dole yeast, dogs and man. Group discussions about society and the environment centered around works of science fiction. Tuesdays we discuss the week's readings, Thursdays we watch sci-fi movies (open to all). Registration is for credit (3 units) or to access readings on Stellar, but not required.Tuesday and Thursday 2-5PM in 1-379 |
January 2004
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Some readings are available on Stellar, and most are still in publication if you prefer to hold dead trees. The books have been ordered and should be available at the MIT Coop 12/17/03. The MIT Science Fiction Society has a semi-public collection worth investigating as well.
Nobody every accused Niven of writing literary SF, and yet some participants resented the (lack of) character development, Pournelle's influence on the portrayal of women etc. However, those grievances aside the piece makes a very good introduction to the course and many students quite enjoyed the book, even if it is "corny and predictable."
Unfortunately nobody bothered to get and read Burnie, which I felt a real shame, not counting the trouble of having the bookstore track down copies, because it's a really good and easy to read primer. Only one person bothered to read Foster's paper, which I grant is a little far afield but I still feel to be worth the effort, they did not see the applicability but didn't seem to think it a terrible read either.
Sheep was a real gamble because none of the instructors had read it, but it received such great reviews in general, and in particular on the few web resources I found concerning the environment-SF juncture or dystopias that we included it. Lucky for us, because it is the best of the works we used.
Songs of Chaos does not mesh well with the topic of the class and will be dropped in any future incarnations of the course. On the other hand the Kress piece was very well received.
Not particularly relevant, it's more fantasy than science-fiction and more of an ad hominem argument than a thoughtful treatise.
I can't remember if we used this class to wrap-up and for an overall discussion, with the remainder of time for group work and presentations pushed back to the last day, or if we proceeded as planned in which case I have no idea what happened the last day.
The group projects were added towards the middle of the course in order to round out the end. Students worked in groups of three to create a potential backstory/world for a piece of SF with environmental themes. One example was of a dystopian/utopian split; somewhat inspired by Niven and Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer and the beginning of Ecotopia Emerging; where the global environment is quickly deteriorating and the city of Salem, Oregon decides to get away from it all, and build a giant dome. Here is that presentation.
See also, "And Them, Too, I Hope" by Paul Di Filippo
The first in this list is the source of the "dole yeast, dogs and man" reference in the course description.