Episode 6 - Desertion

TBD - To Be Determined

Theme: We don’t understand what we don’t understand.
Time: 46:23

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Terry Bisson, “They’re Made Out of Meat.” Damon Knight, “To Serve Man.” Harlan Ellison, “I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream.” Anne McCaffrey,’s Ship series. Spider Man. Fantastic Four. Wes Jackson. Jack Williamson, “With Folded Hands.” Arthur C. Clarke, "The Sentinel.” Iron Man.
Films. The Fly (1986). Avatar.
TV episodes, series. Star Trek. Stargate.
Ideas. Adaptation of or to alien environments. Pantropy … altering humans to explore new planets. Mining Jupiter. What is the cost of scientific glory? Challenging 1940s gender norms. The stakes of space exploration. Sacrifice is worthy of lofty goals. The burden of leadership. Physical changes alter perception and perspective. Human - canine communication. How does human reality compare to other realities? Posthumanism, transhumanism connections. If we had the chance to live as other lifeforms, would we want to be human again? Is “Desertion” really the best title for the story? Would our personality change with a physical or mental transformation? Handwavium. What are the limits and possibilities of pantropy? Mind swap, personality displacement. Imagining other perceptions and realities. With tech we can borrow perceptions, but we cannot really know the world through those lenses. Bill, use your blarg! We don’t understand what we don’t understand. Super heroes and super powers. Transformation v. augmentation. Brundle Fly. Do humans face ethical dilemmas when there are no humans about? What societies do aliens construct? What is Miss Stanley’s first name? Are there fleas in space? Wigwagging Boy Scouts. Might we colonize the Moon or Mars? Walking around the Moon in our meat container. Experience v. exploration.
Hmmm - Whoa - WTF. A new feature! High on the Hmmm scale. A little bit of Whoa!

Previous episode: Terry Bisson, “They’re Made Out of Meat,” and Damon Knight, “To Serve Man”
Next episode: William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/