Study Questions on Outer Limits, "Demon With the Glass Hand," Star Trek: Next Generation, "Measure of a Man;" Sarah Zettel, FOOL'S WAR; Alfred Bester,"Fondly Fahrenheit;" Isaac Asimov, "Satisfaction Guaranteed;" and C. L.(Catherine) Moore, "No Woman Born."

1)Science fiction has developed a complex vocabulary for describing different relationships between humans and machines: "AIs," "waldos," "meat puppets," "androids," "cyborgs," "robots," etc. You should be aware of the differences between these different categories as well as be attentive to the ways that they may serve similar functions for the various writers who employ them.

2)In some ways, the android functions not unlike the alien does in other kinds of science fiction works -- to pose a standard against which to test what traits or properties define the essence of humanity. What plot structures surface in these stories which focus our attention on the dividing line between human and machine? What do these various stories see as defining humanity?

3)One interesting effect of these stories is that the human characters are often portrayed in ways which makes them seem more mechanical, artificial, rigid, inflexible, resulting in a blurring of the lines from the other direction. Where do we see evidence in these various stories of the "mechanization" of the human characters? Where do we see signs of the android or robot characters seeming to assume more "human" characteristics?

4)A surprisingly high percentage of these stories introduce love stories as a central plot device. What functions do these love stories play in relation to the core issue of the relationship between humans and machines? How open are the various writers to the prospect of romantic or erotic feelings between humans and machines?

5) One core factor leading towards our late 20th century fascination with robots, androids, and artificial intelligences has been the rise of cognitive-based theories of the mind. Increasingly, we understand perception, memory, personality, and thought in terms of information processing models, which help to blur the line between the human brain and a man-made computer. How do these various stories represent human thought?

6)A recurring myth is that, in some senses, the android may be more perfect than the human being, although this perfection is sometimes depicted as desirable and sometimes as frightening. How do these various narratives deal with the prospect of perfecting humanity? In what ways are the human characters in these stories shown to be flawed or inadequate? How might this plot structure enable writers to criticize aspects of contemporary culture?

7)Some feminist critics have argued that male sf writers tend to deal with the issue of artificial intelligence in terms of an escape from or a strengthening of the capacity of the body, while female writers have stressed embodiment, the degree to which our bodies are vitally linked to our understanding of the world around us. Does this claim hold true for the works we have examined this week? How does the issue of embodiment surface in Sarah Zettel's Fool’s War and C.L. Moore's "No Woman Born?"

8) When The Terminator was released, Harlan Ellison sued the producers claiming that the film plagiarized "Demon with a Glass Hand." Do you agree or disagree with that claim? How might this issue center around our beliefs about the relationship between generic formula and original authorship?

9) Star Trek: The Next Generation offered us two core images of the interactions between humans and machines: on the one hand, there is Data; on the other hand, there is the Borg. What relationship might we posit between these two figures? Why is one attractive to us and the other nightmarish? In what ways did subsequent Star Trek stories complicate the opposition between Data and the Borg?

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