The first part of this review does not contain spoilers.
Ken MacLeod's The Star Fraction is a fantasic science fiction novel about love, loss, socialism, anarcho-capitalism, "American-style ‘black helicopter’ libertarianism", and the looming threat of a fascistic world order. The Star Fraction's setting is post World War III UK, where the republican government has been overthrown by the monarchy, and a new kingdom has been established. After many failed violent revolutions to over throw the monarch, the USA has taken over the UN to form a new world order, all in the name of peace, referred to as the US/UN. In "The Peace Process", the US/UN created mini states throughout Europe to allow political dissidents to have their own private communities. A way of containing everyone who would threaten the stability of the region into harmless sub-regions.
The book's setting becomes much more interesting when the later American edition's introduction is added. MacLeod describes that he is a socialist, and believes that any science fiction novel's story must be derived from author's beliefs on the nature of history and the future. MacLeod's socialistic background gives him the Materialistic view of history. The Materialistic view believes that constant upheavals of the rulers and of laws occur as technology changes faster than the former can adapt. Technology is seen as the main cause of societal change and order, not the ruling class, and when technology allows the people to circumvent the ruling class, they are overthrown. This theory was popularized mainly by Lewis Henry Morgan, working from the framework of Karl Marx.
MacLeod then throws a complete curve ball, and tells the reader of his knowledge of Ludwig von Mises' famous Calculatio...
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...starts falling at the ending, which is arguably the most important part, after MacLeod decides to kill off Moh. Its never really explained how the virus is able to kill Moh, his mind being human and not at all what the program was looking for or what they were able to interact with. Because of that, it feels like his death was predetermined from the start of the book in order to elicit an emotional response from the readers. Also for some odd reason, Janis decides to fight as a soldier in the ANR's army for seemingly no reason. We are supposed to believe that her previous fighting with the agents of the US/UN changed her from a peaceful scientist to a gun toting, jack booted soldier in the matter of a week? Really? And the gun turning into Moh's simulacrum is also extremely corny and is visible from a mile away.
All in all, a great book that has a bad after taste.
Inevitably on his metaphoric passage to heroism, Robert has many turning points in relation to Marxism that change his outlook on the world and war around him like the class division, the oppressors and the oppressed and, the mini revolutions that take place in a struggle for power. Findley presents the reader with a story that challenges the conceptions and truths that humans believe of human nature. Through the plot of Robert, Findley begins to convey the message that life goes on and as humans the only truth is that we are becoming. This is similarly seen in Marxism as it believes the cycle is ongoing but slowly and surely society is becoming. In one way Robert's journey itself is a reflection of society and the path that it continues to take.
C. Wright Mill’s and Karl Marx shared the same views on capitalist society. In fact, they both were conflict theorists that believed certain groups and leaders kept a significant amount of power within society. Marx’s focus was on social class and how certain positions in the social class dictated one’s life. All things considered, Marx broke it down into two antagonistic classes, which are the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie (upper/ capitalist class) consisted of wealthy individuals that owned land and factories. Because of their wealth and positions, they controlled all elements of society. The Proletariat (lower/working class), on the other hand, consisted of individuals in poverty that worked hourly wages on these land and factories. Mill’s view was very compatible to Marx, but his main focus was on the power of the elite. He argued that people in the economy, politics, and the military held most of the power and low-class individuals had very little say in their lives.
In his own words, Mills claimed “it is the capacity to shift from one. perspective to another.the capacity to range from the most impersonal. and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human. self – and to see the relations between the two of them.” . Mills believed that being able to see the relationship between the ordinary lives of people and the wider social forces was the key to the sociological imagination of the.
The twentieth century science fiction was enriched, made magnificent and took the interest of the readers to the epoch with the rise of the most imaginative, belligerent and brilliant Scottish writer Iain M. Banks who took the science fiction to a great height and created tremendous curiosity among the readers about his writing. Iain Banks’s novels cover almost all parts of human life and world. Though he shows the darker side of the future world, he is hopeful about the positive fine future world. The film-makers and broadcasters also have focused their attention on his novels. The Algebraist, a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first appeared in print in 2004. The novel takes place in 4034 A.D. With the assistance of other species, humans have spread across the galaxy, which is largely ruled by the Mercatoria, a complex feudal hierarchy, with a religious zeal to rid the galaxy of artificial intelligences, which were blamed for a previous war. In center-stage Iain Banks portrays the human Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers. Taak's hunt for the Transform takes him on a dizzying journey, partly through the Dweller wormhole network itself. Banks lays out and layers his presentation of a civilized universe with consummate skill. One of the true pleasures of reading space opera is the reader's slowly unfolding understanding of the universe created by the author.
Isaac Asimov's "Foundation", hailed as one of the great classics of science fiction, is a book of many layers. While appearing on the surface to be a rather standard science fiction title, the truth is that, when inspected with a more critical eye, Asimov actually wrote a very interesting social commentary into his novel. Contained in the text of this volume is an analysis of civilization, entropy, and the different forms that power can assume.
considered separately as causes of change in the society. He used the relationship between society and the individual to explain the causes of change in terms of social development.
William Ogburn designed a theory of social changed based on technology. He believed three processes of technology called Invention, Discovery, and Diffusion that have changed societies. Invention is a combining of existing elements and materials to form a new ones, like microchip and cars. Inventions is not only used for computers or other gadgets, there are social inventions too, such as democracy, citizenship, capitalism, socialism, bureaucracy, and gender equalities. Discovery is identified as a new way of seeing reality as a second process of change. The reality is present, however people are seeing it for the first time. An opinion of the discovery is, it brings extensive change only when it comes at the right time. Diffusion is explained
In Lee Ann Fisher Baron’s “Junk Science,” she claims that the “food industry with the help of federal regulators” sometimes use “[a science that] bypasses [the] system of peer review. Presented directly to the public by…‘experts’ or ‘activists,’ often with little or no supporting evidence, this ‘junk science’ undermines the ability…[for] everyday consumers to make rational decisions” (921). Yet Americans still have a lot of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 65% of Americans are “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” of the FDA. When it comes to what people put in their bodies, the FDA has a moral obligation to be truthful and transparent. The bottom line of the FDA’s myriad of responsibilities is to help protect the health of Americans. Deciding what to eat is a critical part of living healthily, and consumers must be able to trust that this massive government agency is informing them properly of the contents of food. While the FDA does an excellent job in many areas, it has flaws in other areas. One of its flaws is allowing the food industry to print food labels that are deceptive, unclear, or simply not true (known as misbranding). This is quite the hot topic because a Google search for “Should I trust food labels” returns well over 20 million results, many of which are blog posts from online writers begging their readers not to trust food labels. HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications, published an online article whose author claims that “[the food industry] will put what they want on labels. They know the game….” While the food industry is partially at blame for misbranding, the FDA is allowing it to happen. If a mother tells her children that it is oka...
The beautiful twinkles of light in the night sky are stars. How did these sparkles of light come about? What role does physics play in the life of a star? To understand the physics of stars we must take a look at gravity, nuclear fusion, supernovae, and neutron stars.
“The Cold War” is a broad term for the international order between 1945 and 1989. From proxy wars to space programs, and propaganda to independence movements, nationalism is the common denominator that truly catalyzed the major confrontations of the time period. Nationalism is defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as, “(1) the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity, and (2) the actions that the members of a nation take when seeking to achieve (or sustain) self-determination”. Nationalism shaped international political maneuvers throughout the cold war because it created solidarity, was blended
Technology is the backbone of the people within our world, and we rely on it heavily, far more than we should. While we choose to focus on the benefits, we fail to see the negatives that come with the integration of technology into our lives. Though set in a dystopian past, the book 1984 by George Orwell tells a story that reflects many aspects within the present we all know today. A man by the name of Winston Smith slowly becomes more aware of the corruption that the government, which calls itself The Party, is committing each day. Learning this information can get you killed, for you are seen as a threat or rebel to The Party. Keeping this knowledge a secret is impossible due to the use of
...es the reader thinking about the impact of technology long after they have finished the story.
Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics,” International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 2 (spring, 1992), pp. 391-425
Winston presents two approaches to cultural determinism. The first is Cultural Determinist Account A which “implies an examination of the circumstances into which the technology is introduced and diffused through society.” (Winston 791) This account resists the idea of invention and what will happen instantly. This account also focuses on economics, a social factor. The second account Winston discusses is Cultural Determinist Account B, his ultimate position between the accounts, which attempts to bring together all the social elements and insist that it was that combination that led to the creation of a given technology. This account looks at economics, gender, politics, science, race, class etc. This account has much more substance and is “thicker” (Winston 794) than Account A because it examines science/scientists and technology/inventors which make this account contain some aspects of technological
Tommy and Dr. Tamkin continue having this conversation and Tommy begins to believe Dr. Tamkin knows what he is talking about because he makes it sound very simple. Dr. Tamkin says “Have you ever stopped to think how much dough people are making in this market?” (pg. 3). When he says this he is asking Tommy if he has thought about the money in the world and stock market. Obviously Dr. Tamkin has been thinking about the stock market and is really obsessed with money. This quote proves the book is a form of Economic Determinist and Marxist because it speaks on the stock m...