Editor: Roberto Paura
READING REALITY THROUGH SCIENCE FICTION – Roberto Paura & Onoriu Colăcel
Big questions over the future of humankind have traditionally given legitimacy to popular stories about science and technology. Science fiction has long been credited with the ability to anticipate how audiences are prone to interpret the promises of technological progress.…
TRUE NAMES, TRUE NYMS. THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF IDENTITY – Enrico Beltramini
This essay argues that for cypherpunk activists, the power of technology over individuals and the nature of people’s identity provide the points of difference with cyberpunk writers. For the cyberpunks, identities are framed in context, so that an aggressive elite…
SF NARRATIVES AND THE ORIGINS OF (CULTURAL) REALITY – Katarzyna Filutowska
This paper examines SF narratives, in particular works such as William Gibson`s “Neuromancer” and “Idoru”, or George Orwell`s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. It aims to demonstrate the original, transcendental character of narrative related to its ability of reaching the very origins of…
RE-CYCLING THE ISLAND-TROPE IN CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE FICTION: MORTAL ENGINES (2018) – Monika Kosa
A recurring trope in art, the Island represents a never-ending source of inspiration for storytellers. As a culturally and historically conditioned notion, the Island has undergone several conceptual changes. Christian Rivers’ Mortal Engines (2018), a multilayered film adaptation of Phillip…
HUMAN INTERACTIONS WITH TECHNOLOGY: INVESTIGATING THE POSTHUMAN IN HBO’s WESTWORLD – Zita Hüsing
In the first moments of the show Westworld, an unidentified voice asks the character Dolores: “Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?” (“The Original,” 00:02:30-00:02:33). This inquiry invites both Dolores and the viewer to examine not only their…
THE WARNING FUNCTION OF POST-APOCALYPTIC SCIENCE FICTION – Kateřina Houfková
In 1974, the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday clock, using the imagery of apocalypse (symbolised by midnight) and a nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to demonstrate how close we are to destroying our civilization…
DEATH POSTPONED: CRYONICS AND A TRANSHUMAN FUTURE – Aline Ferreira
This essay reflects on the concept of cryonics as a technology that will in the future enable cryopreserved people to be returned to life when the cure for the disease that killed them is found. The longstanding dream of prolonging…