Thematic Tuesdays - The Concept of Humanity in Sci-Fi

Thematic Tuesday #1: The Concept of Humanity in Sci-Fi

Featuring: Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel 

&

Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Trying out something new as I reemerge from a long blog hiatus. I've realized when blogging for my school's English department that I've preferred analyzing themes from a series of books as opposed to reviewing. So these thematic reviews are less about what I liked/disliked and more about a general topic. I'll try to have these every other Tuesday (I'd normally say every Tuesday but I might be reviewing really big books).

Technically, my first thematic review was on Female Perspective in Science Fiction over here. I'll call it part 1 of my sci-fi reviews. I've been very much into the genre lately.


I'll focus on two books from the Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel (Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods) and the last book of the Illuminae Files by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman (Obsidio). Both utilize an innovative formatting to tell their narratives. The Themis Files is told primarily through interviews and recordings, while the Illuminae Files has that and more flashy ways of telling the story - artwork, schematics, emails, text messages, etc.

I'll briefly gloss over what each series is about. The Themis Files is about a girl, Rose Franklin, who falls into a hole to discover a giant robot's hand. Years later she is at the center of a secret government project set out to find the rest of the parts of this machine, and determine what it is, and where it came from. The Illuminae Files is about a group of teenagers working to subvert an organization that has built an illegal mining company on the planet of Kerenza IV, and is attempting to cover up their tracks by destroying the colony.

While each series covers different subject matter, there's an underlying theme of humanity found in both series that can be addressed. In The Themis Files, specifically in the second book, Waking Gods, time and time again this question is brought up - "What makes us human?" Rose and the rest of her team discovers that the extraterrestrial beings that made the robots are very much opposed to the idea of intermingling between species - it is a corruption (or a disruption, rather) of the natural course of life humanity was meant to take. But what even is the natural course, if Rose's own life was disrupted by forces outside of her control.

"They don't want to kill you all, because... because that's bad, and it's also interfering. But the alternative is to deny you a future you were supposed to have! They believe that they have, however unwillingly, robbed you of your destiny." 

Because we're presented multiple POVs in the story, we're given perspectives that also aren't entirely human, allowing readers to imagine how aliens view us.

"They're curious about mankind right now, not you. If I told you anything, you'd try really hard to control the situation, but you can't.... People do what people do, and you'll be miserable in the end because you'll blame yourself for something you have no power over." 

This also gives us a glimpse into the concept of free will - had humans known in the very begin how technologically advanced they would become (while also being a destructive species), would they continue down the same course? It is this awareness that the aliens are trying to revert.

Initially, in Sleeping Giants, Rose is very willing to go to whatever means to rebuild Themis, the robot whose hand she fell onto when she was a child. Probing every corner in the name of science at times meant testing the very definition of humanity.

"So what's that simple truth I've been hiding from? It's not that I'm building a weapon. It's not even that it'll kill people. That's just a matter of time. What I've been trying so hard to deny is that I'm loving every minute of it. As much as I'd like to be principled enough to walk away from all of this, I'm having the time of my life. I'm a scientist, and this is what I breathe for. If I can live with that, I might be able to sleep again." 

Her concept of humanity is drastically changed at the end of the first novel. Rose Franklin no longer wants to probe to the depths for science. Her attempts at challenging humanity were what she believes was an act of defiance against God. But the interviewer continues to push for this "truth". We have an inclination as humans to sort and organize into a dichotomy of what is similar to us and what is different, or what is "other". This concept of "otherness", also known as alterity, is what the interviewer hopes to redefine through the rebuilding of Themis. If "otherness" is found on the other side of the galaxy, we are very much just human, and our ideas of sorting and separating, stereotyping and discriminating, are very much null and void.

If only I had the final book of this series, Only Human, to tie up this analysis. But on a final note, I do find it interesting that theme of humanity is more or less the focus of the series than the actual science fiction. I'm left philosophizing my existence over here, and it's rather wonderful to read a series that entertains and probes at the deeper questions.

Onto Obsidio. Ironically, I have read the other two books (Iluminae and Gemina), but I read them so long ago that me looking into them for the sake of analysis would be an exercise in futility. I'll focus on one character that has captivated me throughout the series - AIDAN. He's an AI that wrecked havoc in book 1, and becomes the Iluminae Group's unlikely morally gray ally in book 3. Though he's an AI, he exhibits extreme emotion, especially where Kady is involved - he becomes increasingly protective of her, as she is the only one who opens him up to the possibility of his own humanity. As opposed to not feeling anything at all, AIDAN expresses a wide range of emotions.

"It is entirely possible to be alone in a crowded room. Your solitude only compounded by the faces around you. The presence of others serving only to remind you of how lonely you truly are."

AIDAN, being an AI, is fully aware of the stakes that are present, and, for the sake of the collective whole (to the extent of saying for humanity), he makes very questionable decisions that even compromise the whole operation. However, it can be argued that though his actions are morally gray ones, they did benefit and ultimately helped more people than it did harm (Kant versus Mill, hm?).

This is where AIDAN places himself in the role of the villain. Because to get things done, someone has to get their hands dirty.

"Every story needs its villain. And its hero. And its monster." 

This is broaching review territory (on plot based elements), but AIDAN's growth and development towards something that resembles humanity (as morally questionable as it is) was far more interesting than the interspersed love spats between the three couples. It also makes us wonder about the possibility of humanity in AI.

On the whole, both series delved into very multifaceted ideas of humanity. The Themis Files discusses the duality of humanity versus alterity, while Obsidio brings about the idea of actions committed towards the "greater good" and whether AI can experience humanity.

What other books (science fiction or otherwise) also have an overarching theme of humanity? I'd love to read them! Also, what do you thing of my first Thematic Tuesday post? Comment below!