Cover letter
As I write I feel a little more confident in my claims. It is funny that in the past, I have stated that choosing my thesis is a circuitous process in which I write a little, change my thesis, write some more, alter my thesis, and so forth. Even though I work in that manner, I never bothered to begin writing a serious draft to help solidify my claim when I was confused. So it wasn’t until I undertook this write-up that my claim began to take a real shape.
Arthur C. Clark once stated “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Indeed, we may have some frightful magic in store for us in the future. As evidence from the presentations, we are inching closer and closer to exploring other planets and creating artificial intelligence. Although I am agnostic, I feel as science progresses, we must ask ourselves questions that fall into the purview of religion. Should we create life? Should we mettle with life on other planets? When technology advances so far ahead that it “indistinguishable from magic,” do we become Gods? Perhaps these seem like silly questions, and they may be for now. Fortunately SF tackles these questions and offers answers or at the very least insight into what may become serious issues.
Religion, as science’s antagonist pits these questions. Were it not for religion, science would carry on unchallenged and perhaps even indifferent to the consequences of its advances.
I have not finished, the essay is a work in progress, hope you enjoy the reading.
Thanks!
Johnny Zapata
Write-Up Draft
Science’s antagonist in Science Fiction
Recently amongst science fiction academia and aficionados, animosity towards religion has been mitigated. In the genre, the relationship between religion and science has been cyclical, with each coming out on top at different times throughout the decades. Recently however, the two ideologies have seem to have come to a stalemate, they have acquiesced that each has their merits in the world of the future. However, the clash of ideologies has fueled science fiction for over a century, many of the genre’s roots are in challenging theology. SF does not need to generate vitriol, only continue the sport, the great debate. In literature, religion is one of the greatest antagonists of all time in SF, in not all the genres. Without the great adversary that is religion, science becomes unchallenged. Religion must continue acting as science’s greatest opponent within SF so that we may speculate and prepare for a universe with other forms of intelligent life, a world where we create life, and a world in which we may become deities.
In 1958, James Blish novel A Case of Conscience, he breaks bread with religion by having the protagonist of his SF text be a Jesuit. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the world had a dark view of technology.A character with exhaustive knowledge of both religion and science seemed appropriate to reflect on the cultural and technological ramifications of such awesome power.In his retrospective look of religion throughout SF literature, Religion in Science Fiction, Steven Hrotic comments on the role of the Jesuit in SF: “… given the genre’s antipathy toward religion, a religious specialist will tend to be a protagonist only if the author wants to discuss religion…Jesuits are a natural choice: not only do they have a history of exploration, but also reputations as educators, and as wrestling with thorny theological contradictions” (96) A Jesuit could be sympathetic to both perspectives, as well as personify the struggle a reader may have living in such frightening uncertain times. In his novel, Blish introduces readers to Father Ruiz-Sanchez, a character solely given the responsibility of choosing to either share a life changing discovery, or withhold the knowledge from humanity.
In the aforementioned text, the protagonist is afraid of a planet which is an idyllic paradise, the idea of murder does not exist and its inhabitants are perfectly moral. In Blish’s story, intelligent life is discovered and a team of humans is sent to determine whether the planet should be opened to the public, quarantined, or mined for resources. It comes down to a vote, the protagonist Father Ruiz-Sanchez has the final say.Hrotic describes the creatures whose fate is to be determined in Blish’s novel: “The Lithians act as perfectly moral Catholics, but completely lack a belief in God. They are the ultimate pragmatists, assuming that if a question cannot be tested, the question itself is meaningless…Goodness can exist without God. The Lithians therefore represent an atheistic proof that the religious spirituality of humanity could not survive” (99). One would assume as a Catholic that he would vote to have the planet open for human travel, however Ruiz-Sanchez votes to quarantine the planet. He commits an immense sin to prevent humanity from ever learning of such a peaceful race of creatures who do not believe in God. He believes such knowledge would shatter the entire world’s faith and ruin Catholicism. Unfortunately, his decision dooms the planet to becoming a weapons factory and subsequently the planet is destroyed by inattentive scientists. Perhaps such a monstrosity may have been avoided if Ruiz-Sanchez had not acted out of fear or if his faith had been unwavering. Should any information, religious or scientific, ever be withheld from any form of life? Perhaps we had no right in proselytizing, commercializing or interfering with other life forms at all. On the other hand, do we have a say in such matters if the life form is of our creation?
In Isaac Asimov’s novel Reason written in 1941, a remote power station afloat in space, far from Earth, there is a robot that wonders who or what created it. Asimov tells of a robot named QT-1, “cutie,” who rejects the story of its creation proffered by humans aboard the station. Cutie refuses to believe he was made by humans on a planet that is not even visible. Paul J. Nahin discusses Asimov’s work in his analytical text Holy Sci-Fi! Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect and quotes Cutie from the novel: “These are facts which, with the self-evident proposition that no being can create another being superior to itself, smashes your silly hypothesis to nothing” (89). Moreover how could an inferior life form create a superior life form? Rejecting all knowledge presented to him, Cutie declares the power station to be a deity and begins converting other robots to his view. The humans try to reason with Cutie and even go so far as to build a robot in front of it, to no avail. The bickering stops short of violence when the humans realize the robots, now being devoted to the power station, are running it far better than they had before. What rights have we to say another’s faith is wrong, even with near definitive proof? Even as creators of artificial intelligence, we are not omniscient. Asimov’s story is comedic and blithe at times, but it is a musing that should be taken under serious consideration before we find ourselves creating life. We should ask ourselves questions that fall into the purview of religion when science plays God.
Works Cited
Busto, Rudy V. "Religion/Science/Fiction: Beyond the Final Frontier." Implicit Religion 17.4 (2014): 395-404. Web
Hrotic, Steven. Religion in Science Fiction: The Evolution of an Idea and the Extinction of a Genre. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Print.
McGrath, James F. Religion and Science Fiction. Eugene, Or.: Pickwick Publications, 2011. Print
Nahin, Paul J. Holy Sci-fi!: Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect. New York: Springer, 2014. Print
Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.