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  • Essay / "The Novum: Analysis and consequences of scientific progress

    The concept of the novum is a central theme of science fiction as a whole. It represents something new and different from the world as we know it. The novum usually functions as the impetus of the science fiction story, guiding the motivations of the main characters or, in some cases, existing as the protagonist himself, include the main subjects of HG Wells's The Time Machine and “The Golem” by Avram Davidson, as well as the film. various artificial beings featured in the stories I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. In some cases this is not so distinct in Wells' work, for example, the future environments he sculpts for his protagonists to explore, representing as they do something equally unfamiliar to the contemporary. humanity, serve as additional paradigms to the science fiction novum. In this case, the very framework of the story can serve as a novum in evaluating the consequences of the technological novums of Wells, Davidson and Asimov, as well as their explanations. and the conditions of Wells' dystopian vision of the future, the present study will present the stories as cautionary tales that reveal to the reader the irresponsibility of the human species' fixation on technological and economic progress. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayIn Wells' The Time Machine, the protagonist finds himself in the year 802 701, after which humanity has apparently divided into two subspecies: the Eloi, who seem to represent a humanity that had reached its technological limits and consequently abandoned most of its strength and intellect, and the stern and bestial Morlocks, counter-evolved from the lower working classes . In many works of science fiction, the novum is concerned with a plausible future. Here, Wells' quasi-Darwinian concept of the distant future uses the banal conflict of socio-economic division to account for a degeneration of the human race. The class division is extrapolated to the extreme in both subspecies, and the setting and its occupants become a novum. Whether population genetics could lead to such total decentralization is speculative at best, but reasonable enough to serve as a stark warning against, as Colin Manlove puts it, "the brutal division between capitalist and worker that has deepened until Wells throughout the 19th century” (228). ). Wells's predictive consciousness -- a principal element in the development of the novum -- introduces these desolate representations of the future by means of the main invention of the text, in turn creating additional novums intended both to captivate and to warn the reader. Manlove goes on to propose an interesting theory that sees Wells' time machine itself as a sort of creator of its traveler's visited future. Not only does the invention allow one to see the future, but Manlove claims that "[its] movements...are assimilated to those of future history itself" as the protagonist witnesses the rise and fall of many trees and buildings (229). Eventually, several million years later, its journey through time is accompanied by the slowing down of the sun which, in accordance with Darwin's theories of thermodynamics, eventually goes out and appears dead in the sky. Although contemporary science has since discovered this to be false, Wells' prediction of the distant future should not be discounted either, especially considering how primitive 19th century technology was by today's standards ( Manlove 229). Accepting the aforementioned theory of Manlove, thetime machine can be described as a “transgressive technology” that serves to “uproot the future as it passes through it” (230). He elucidates one of the purposes of Wells' invention: "[Wells] wants to cast an ironic light on our own technological pride by imagining an infinitely superior technology" (228). While this can be said of almost any scientific novum, the dark imagery Wells uses to describe extraordinarily decentralized humanity and the end of the earth – rather dark concepts in themselves – also serve as warnings about that our obsession with scientific progress could ultimately mean our end. As the Time Traveler encounters the world in his final stages, Wells presents readers with a sense of hopelessness and hopelessness by imbuing the scene with overtly dark language: words such as "dark", "cold", "still" and " silent ". each appears several times throughout the chapter (144-8). Wells' vision of the time machine may be an over-extrapolation of modern science. Yet it is a novum for obvious reasons: it guides the narrative, was previously unknown and, although subject to possible logical and technical objections, is achievable either through future scientific developments or through the immensity and mystery of the universe. It also highlights the scientific pride of human beings while providing something fantastic to strive for. In this sense, The Time Machine glorifies and warns against technological progress. As Manlove states, “when the mind has done all it can to master matter, it atrophies for lack of matter, the result is stasis and then decline” (230). However, there is positive potential. Because the protagonist has become a physical part of these distant future environments, it can be assumed that he must rematerialize – during the year 802 701, for example – for this segment of the story to become an actual historical reality . It is his invention of the time machine that justifies his surpassing the known limits of space-time; Yet despite his connection to these times, the idea of ​​his reappearance so long after his death is completely unfounded. This means a noticeable lack of novum. His presumed inability to relive this part of his "past" allows his travels to be interpreted as a simple warning. In this sense, the biological deterioration of humanity is therefore not inevitable, and the future is not necessarily fixed, as long as "the dangers [of social stratification] exposed under current conditions can be corrected" ( Manlove, 228). Human beings with advances in science and technology are perhaps most evident in Asimov's I, Robot, a collection of short stories that revolve around the creation and development of artificial intelligence. Although the historical timeline lags slightly behind Asimov's speculative predictions, it is particularly intriguing today, as the increase in the quality of humanoid robots - certainly the predominant novum throughout the text - appears to be experiencing growth. and progress faster than ever. This alone can cause the "Frankenstein complex", a term coined by Asimov to explain the public's fear of artificial beings, especially those most similar to humans. The humanoid tends to evoke this fear because it is much faster, stronger, smarter, and overall more capable than humanity. The paranoia is particularly evident in "Robbie", a story in which the mother's doubts prove unfounded, and in "Little Lost Robot", where a slightmodification of Asimov's first law of robotics justifies public concern. Asimov realized that fear would be the greatest obstacle to the success of the novum, and to combat this he introduced the Three Laws. First described in his story "Runaround", then mentioned in numerous texts by Asimov himself and other science fiction writers. , the Three Laws constitute what many enthusiasts consider to be the basis for reliable and safe interaction between humans and artificially intelligent beings. They are in place to preserve the safety of humanity, ensure its dominance over artificial beings, and erase presumed paranoid fears around artificial intelligence. Indeed, as Lee McCauley explains, "it is the explicit nature of the Three Laws that made the existence of robots possible by directly opposing the Frankenstein complex" (158). However, inhibiting the autonomy of robots otherwise very advanced beings will necessarily become unrealizable. All conscious life hates domination. Androids inculcated with the Three Laws can still only let their resentment grow through sustained inferior domination. Davidson's android in "The Golem" pays no attention to the Three Laws or Frankenstein's complex. In the story, the creature tries to scare a Jewish couple. He explains that it was constructed of clay by Professor Allardyce, who, by breathing life into it, “made…all [humanity] superfluous” (306). Despite the comical tone of the story, the android – the blatant novum of this concise tale – offers a strong message to readers, warning against the predestined hatred between man and the artificial being: "All humanity has an instinctive antipathy towards androids and there will be an inevitable struggle between them” (306). As mentioned in the introduction to "The Golem" in the Wesleyan Anthology, "Davidson clearly disagrees with Asimov's hard-sf, high-tech approach to the depiction of robots", but he is referring to Asimov as well as Shelley's work in the story (304).I, Robot acts as an artificial evolutionary tale. As with the evolution of The Time Machine, the reader finds the end result to be a dystopian tale of humanity. Where Wells' subtext concerns the biological devolution of humanity through social stratification, Asimov presents the development of a social utopia gone awry through the use of technology. Androids, once servants of the will of humanity, evolve throughout the text of I, Robot. Their evolution seems complete in the final story of I, Robot, entitled "The Avoidable Conflict." In this story, humanity's technological development has reached its end, realized in artificial life advanced enough to act as humanity's sole guardian and control all forces that influence humanity's destiny. Stephen Byerley, the coordinator, calls on Susan Calvin to discuss the "little imbalances" in this supposedly perfect system (199). Out of fear, he recounts the inevitable conflicts that have shaped human history (200-1). His claims are legitimate: each period of human development has been defined by a particular type of human conflict. The climax of Asimov's novum marks an evolutionary transition for humanity from a dominant to an inferior species. Growing beyond all hope of human control, the android assumes authority over all natural life forms. As in much science fiction literature, the fully realized potential of technological novelties coincides with the degeneration of humanity. Byerley is challenged on the grounds that previous civilizations fell to barbarians, of whom none remain. Its.