Cyberpunk and Steampunk - "And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side"

    So, this week is all about Cyberpunk and Steampunk. For this week, I read "And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side" by James Tiptree Jr..


      The questions asked for this week's writing assignment were: what ideas or mind experiments were explored in the works you read for this week? what were some of the implications or consequences of those ideas for those of us living today?


      Well, this week's reading was far from the positive, bright future that I think most people associate with cyber and steampunk. "And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side" is pretty much a warning about what happens when the human race meets aliens. It's not a pretty insight, at least according to a slightly intoxicated station engineer. As he stated in the story:

      "What I'm trying to tell  you, this is a trap. We've hit the supernormal stimulus. Man is exogamous-all our history is one long drive to find and impregnate the stranger. Or get impregnated by him, it works for women too. Anything different-colored, different nose, ass, anything, man has to fuck it or die trying. That's a drive y'know, it's built in. Because it works fine as long as the stranger is human. For millions of years that kept the genes circulating. But now we've met aliens we can't screw, and we're about to die trying..."

     
         Like I said earlier before, just a peachy outlook on the future. But this idea that the only thing that man (as in the human species) wants to do is find and impregnate the stranger. As I first read this line, I could not believe how true it was! Just think about who's been the "stranger" in history...people of color. People who hold different beliefs than the norm. People who don't look "normal". They're the ones who've continually been persecuted by man. Although, I do think that the engineer forgot about how much man likes conquering other people too. But, I feel like within the story, at the time and place where this is all happening, something else changed: the fact that man could no longer conquer. The aliens, all of the different species that were mentioned and even the ones that weren't mentioned, all have the upper hand on us humans in the story. And that is why there's such a huge emphasis on the whole "fuck it or die trying" part, because that's the last place where humans have power. And, since they can't breed with the aliens in the story, they're losing their power and worth...it's a whole lot to think about when it comes down to it.

 
          From the prompt, I believe that this short story is a cautionary tale. Just looking back at all the different kinds of people we use to and even continue to still persecute today, it all makes sense that we want to conquer and reproduce with those that are different from us. However, if those who are different from us hold even more power then humans, such as having better and more advanced technology as well as not being able to reproduce with humans, it will be disastrous for us. They'll hold the power, they'll call the shots. That's why I think if we ever come into contact with beings from another planet, we need to control ourselves and really work with them to form a peaceful universe.

       If not, we'll all go to hell in a hand basket. And I hope to god I'm long dead by then.