Reference no: EM132492141

Question 1) Cyberpunk as a coherent movement ended in the 1980s, but the pace of change continues in the direction laid out in cyberpunk texts. We are more interconnected, and potentially trapped, by technology that gets ever closer to, or even under, our skin and intimate. So, unsurprisingly, cyberpunk is still relevant, and one can see elements of it everywhere in sf. It is part of the "furniture" of the genre today, part of how it works. Make your own claim based on texts we have read: why is cyberpunk still relevant? What do we still have to struggle with that cyberpunk lets us focus on? How has our world entered the paranoid "hyperreal" of Baudrillard and PKD (both strongly related to the cyberpunk movement)?

Question 2) To build on the discussion above, A.I. is a growing area of cultural change largely ignored by much literature besides sf. While perhaps not sentient, A.I. in some form is coming online now. What does sf have to say about this tech and its relation to society (or even our perception of reality, as PKD shows)? What stories are being told? What should be told?

Question 3) Gender remains an evolving cultural position and so the template laid down by Feminist sf remains a powerful tool for generating sf stories that reposition norms and allow discussions. What do you respond to in Feminist or Queer sf elements that continue to push forward discussions of who we are, and what we should be, moving forward?

Question 4) Race has been part of sf at least since Du Bois' critique of the "end of the world" story, and certainly in Butler's wise commentary and fiction. But our final readings will bring us into the explosion of diversity in sf. Why and how is sf a place that this conversation is taking place in? What does sf bring to conversations about diversity today that is important? In particular, Oforfor's Binti is a celebrated example of Afrofuturism, with technology emerging in an African setting that connects us to space travel and aliens. Research her work and see what scholars claim...what do you find of value in her new perspective? Or what about Hao Jingfang's "Folding Beijing" in relation to the claims of the essay "The Hyper Unreal"? What claims for sf's value in our emergent, diverse global world can you make?

Question 5) The world is changing and something called "cl-fi" has emerged, rooted in sf. Why write climate change sf? Society needs to change and sf has been called forth to do it. Why, why not just do it? What does the genre of the sf bring to the table of a real world problem?

Question 6) If you want to explore something odd and interesting, why not get closer into why Southern California is the site of so much sf. When Baudrillard discusses the "hyperreal," Disneyland provides a prime example. Philip K. Dick sets some of his paranoid surveillance society fictions here, in Orange County, and leaves our University his papers. Steampunk, a worldwide phenomenon, emerges here, from the OC. Ernest Hogan's "Chicanonautica Manifesto" and Stallings "Southern California Science Fictional Thinking" connect SoCal's diversity to sf. Butler grew up in Pasadena. Choose examples and develop an argument about why. Why is sf part of who we are here in California? Why does it resonate so strongly here in the OC? Why is CSUF a hotbed of sf thinking?

Attachment:- real world problem.zip