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Leaving Gaia behind: The ethics of space migration in Cixin Liu’s and Neal Stephenson’s science fiction

In: World Literature Studies, vol. 13, no. 2
Johannes D. Kaminski Číslo ORCID
Detaily:
Rok, strany: 2021, 3 - 18
Jazyk: eng
Kľúčové slová:
Science fiction. Ethics. Anthropocene. Cannibalism. Cixin Liu. Neal Stephenson.
Typ článku: štúdie / articles
Typ dokumentu: PDF
O článku:
In Cixin Liu’s trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past (2008–2010) and Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves (2015), the surface of planet Earth becomes uninhabitable amid global states of emergency, and central governments devise radical plans to ensure the survival of the human species. In contrast to the Old Testament, where human emancipation from nature is punished, Chinese antiquity’s narratives of large-scale engineering projects are surprisingly compatible with the modern mindset which regards nature in utilitarian terms. Contemporary science fiction does not simply inherit this techno-optimistic stance, but fleshes out possible futures that are shaped by biopolitical decisions. In Stephenson’s and Liu’s prose, the proposed escape plans only benefit small segments of the population. While such procedure is incompatible with human rights, which emphasize the value of the individual over the collective, contemporary pragmatic ethics interprets such behavior as rational. Applied to more tangible scenarios, such as our increasingly depleted livelihoods on Earth, both texts document our somewhat diminished expectations regarding the future. In a world where eating human protein is “reasonable” and its rejection merely “respectable”, the preservation of humankind in space sets in motion a return to Hobbes’s “natural state of man”.
Ako citovať:
ISO 690:
Kaminski, J. 2021. Leaving Gaia behind: The ethics of space migration in Cixin Liu’s and Neal Stephenson’s science fiction. In World Literature Studies, vol. 13, no.2, pp. 3-18. 1337-9275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2021.13.2.1

APA:
Kaminski, J. (2021). Leaving Gaia behind: The ethics of space migration in Cixin Liu’s and Neal Stephenson’s science fiction. World Literature Studies, 13(2), 3-18. 1337-9275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2021.13.2.1
O vydaní:
Vydavateľ: Ústav svetovej literatúry SAV
Publikované: 30. 6. 2021