Top-5 Tuesday-Things Early Sci-Fi Got Right

Miracle of miracles, I'm posting a Top-5 Tuesday list on a Tuesday! Thank you for your patience during this long and unexpected hiatus. I was in a show, and things got really hectic, but I am glad to be back at it again!

If you can remember back to last time I posted a top-5 list, (if you can’t, I don’t blame you. It was a long time ago), you’ll remember that we pointed and laughed at things early sci-fi got right. Well, pointed and laughed in an analytical and geeky sort of way. This time, we get to be even more geeky, as we explore the top-5 fascinating things that 19th century sci-fi got right!

Now, I had to limit this list to one entry per author, otherwise this would be a Jules Verne fest. Innovative guy, that Jules Verne.

And, here we go.

5. Automatic Doors (H.G. Wells, The Sleeper Wakes)-

In his 1910 novel about a man who wakes up in a futuristic dystopia after sleeping for three-hundred years, he describes a device that sounds an awful lot like a modern automatic sliding door. One of the citizens of the future civilization walks straight into a wall, only to have a portion of the wall slide away, admitting him entrance into the chamber beyond. The first automatic door was installed around half-a-century after the book was published.

4. The Credit Card (Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward 2000-1887)-

Bellamy’s main idea in Looking Backward was the description of a future socialist utopia. However, aside from his political commentary, he also made some fascinating social and economic predictions. He described the modern day credit card down to the minute detail of the buyer receiving one receipt, and the seller keeping the other. In fact, he even called his transaction method, a “credit card”, a term which didn’t become part of the vernacular until the 1950s.

3. The Speed of Light (Camille Flammarion, Lumen)-

Flammarion’s early sci-fi/fantasy novel philosophizes over the nature of light, and the possibility that time and space could be perceived differently at the speed of light than it is at sublight speeds. Lumen was published in 1872, 30 years before Albert Einstein would take up the concept of light in his Theory of Relativity.

2. The Internet (Mark Twain, “The ‘London Times’ in 1904”)-

Yes, Mark Twain. In addition to his beloved stories of childhood adventures, and American life, Samuel Clemens also dabbled in the budding genre of science fiction. The “telectroscope” described in his 1898 short story “The ‘London Times’ in 1904” brought the affairs of the entire world into the homes of ordinary citizens, much as the internet is capable of doing today.

1.The Moon Landing (Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon)-

The similarities between Jules Verne’s fictional moon landing, written in 1865, and the actual moon landing in 1969 are almost uncanny. The American astronauts in the French novel From the Earth to the Moon, even use a location in Florida as their launch point. As I mentioned in the last top-5 post, his calculations for the rocket-launching cannon were almost plausible, though the barrel would have had to been much longer to propel the astronauts out of the atmosphere.

So, what do you think of these ‘predictions’? Were they inspirations? Calculated hypotheses? Good guesses? Coincidences? Were there any others you think I should have mentioned? Let me know in the comments!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

When I Look to the Heavens

    If you’re seeing this post a little bit late, it’s probably because of my proximity to a gravitational anomaly, which has slowed time for me, while time runs faster for you.

    I saw Interstellar the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful cinematic excursion into the cosmos, set in a fascinating near future. It was hard sci-fi, which to the best of its ability, wove current ideas of physics into an intriguing plot carried by vibrant, realistic characters. (In other words, I recommend it.)

   Going into the movie, however, I could already guess the theme: we as humans are masters of our own destiny. Humanity will continue to better itself through evolution, and is the ultimate source of meaning in the universe. I was right. It was a story driven by humanism.

    How did I see that coming? Well, it was a hard sci-fi space epic. In today’s world, scientific progress, space exploration, and stories about them, are equated with a humanistic worldview.

    The modern era has seen reality split in two. There is the sacred reality- religion, morality, and the like- and the secular reality- things like science, and discovery. The church was kicked into the sacred reality box, and has frankly been quite content to stay there.

    Humanistic scientists, however, have not held up their end of the deal. They are looking out into the universe for answers to the big questions of life. They are not staying in their secular box. That’s because reality doesn’t come in two separate pieces. Truth is truth.

    Take, for example, the Rosetta project, which recently landed a small probe called Philae on the surface of a moving comet called Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The multinational group of  scientists who sent out Rosetta are hoping to find data concerning their hypothesis that all life on earth was seeded by a comet.

    People aren’t researching, experimenting, and exploring just to crunch numbers, or use tax dollars. They want answers about the meaning of life.

    Why should we as Christians care? We already know the ultimate answer. And that is exactly why we should care. I have a twofold reason for this answer.

    First, we know from Romans 1 that there are things that can be learned about God from His creation. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

    When we look into the sky, or into an atom, we can learn more about our smallness, and God’s greatness. We can get a glimpse into the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice for us by seeing His handiwork in a subatomic particle, or a supernova.

    

Secondly, we should care about the exploration of the world around us, because people who don’t know God are looking there for meaning and purpose. When we get involved, we can show the world that the answers they are looking for are found in the creator of everything!

    

So, let’s unabashedly pursue the knowledge of God through every avenue in which He reveals Himself. Let’s look forward to the findings of the Orion Mars missions, because our God is great, and He made Mars! Let’s speculate about the what-ifs in story and art, because our God is vast, and glorious, and mysterious. Let’s turn the tables so that society stops assuming that every space movie is a hot mess of humanism, and every comet lander is looking for our amino acid ancestors.

    Most of all, let us look to the heavens, and fall down and worship our king. Let us humble ourselves as King David did, when he wrote: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,what is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)

Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora

Staring at the Sun

Hey all! I wrote this post as a reflection on a book I read for school called Conformed to His Image, by Kenneth Boa. It’s a great read, and it taught me a lot. I recommend it! These are a few of the things I learned…

     I’ve been told my whole life not to stare at the sun, but I still do. I don’t literally stare at the sun, of course. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see. I do, however, perform the mental equivalent of staring at the sun when my puny, human brain tries to wrap itself around the concept of eternity. I hear the charge in Colossians 3 to “set your mind on things above”, and take it as a call to completely understand what my life will be like after death. In my current state, I can’t imagine anything without an end, so the thought of eternity can be blinding and paralyzing. The question remains, however. How do I “set my mind on things above”? Through the book Conformed to His Image, by Kenneth Boa, I learned that pursuing God is meaning enough for my life now, and throughout all of eternity.

  In 2003, the Hubble telescope photographed galaxies over 13 billion light years away. Some of these galaxies contained eight times as many stars as the Milky Way galaxy, defying current physical theories by their sheer size. God knows every one of the stars in those galaxies by name.  In 1968, Physicists discovered that the proton, one of the three particles that makes up the atom, is itself a composite particle. They observed an even smaller particle called a quark, which makes up both protons and neutrons.  In the scientific world, the quark was groundbreaking and revolutionary. God, however, knew about these incomprehensibly small particles since the beginning of time, when he spoke them into being. He transcends everything that we can see and that we know exists. Our God is one, but also three persons. From His character flow virtues like love, faithfulness, holiness and truth. Without Him, morality would have no foundation, and therefore, no substance. As Kenneth Boa reminds us, “Ultimate reality is not the cosmos, or a mysterious force, but an infinite and loving person” (pg 153). In short, God is wholly other. He is infinite. His understanding and knowledge literally have no end.

    Though we are not infinite, our souls are created to learn and seek after God. When He made humanity, He made us intellectual, emotional, and volitional, like Himself. We are meant to relate to Him on each of those levels. Only when we relate to Him are we truly whole on each of those levels. This is one of the most incredibly, ineffably beautiful things about God. This is one of those concepts that we will forever be learning about and trying to understand more fully. Boa defines this mystery well, “He [God] has designed to seek intimacy with the people on this puny planet, and has given them great dignity and destiny” (pg 29). Not only did God create us, He also knows us, and fulfills us. Ingrained in our nature is a longing for the truth. God- the God who created the smallest subatomic particle, and the largest supernova- offers that truth freely to whomever will seek Him. However, there is too much truth for us to learn in our short earthly lives. The learning must go on into eternity. As Tozer says, “There is simply not enough time to think, to become, to perform  what the constitution of our natures indicates we are capable of” (pg 62).

    The application of these facts to my everyday life encourages my soul, and quells my nagging doubts about living in a future without end. In my humanity, I am created to seek and worship God. As long as that is my focus, I will be satisfied not only in my earthly life, but in my entire life. “We will never be bored in heaven, because God’s greatness and knowledge are boundless; the surprises will never end, and the joy will ever increase”, says Boa (pg 161). When I learn about God, I am “setting my mind on things above”. I am investing in the thing that will continue to be the meaning and purpose for my life forever and ever.

    I am immensely encouraged by the idea that I don’t have to understand all of eternity right now- I have all of eternity to learn. I don’t need to stare at the sun; but I do need to live in the light of it. The glow of God’s everlasting plans should guide my every step. Right now, I can set myself on the never-ending path by using my limited capacity to seek God and pursue Him. Then, my life will be like that of the righteous person in Proverbs 4:18, which, “is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day”.  I can’t look at the sun now. I need it to live, but my eyes cannot behold it. As I move from this ephemeral plane into the Perfect Day, I will be changed so that I can comprehend more and more. I’m not there now, but that’s ok. I’ve only just begun. As Boa once again quotes Tozer, “For now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart’s happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead. That is where we begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor end… To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love…justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart” (pgs 149-150).

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

We Reach for Utopia (Part 1 of 2)

 

My window looks out over a sprawling city. It seems like every ten minutes, some sort of emergency vehicle speeds past, the wail of its siren growing louder, until it echoes eerily off the walls of my room, then fades into the distance.

There is something desperately wrong with society. We as humans know this to be true on a fundamental level. We want to fix it. We want to build a perfect civilization.

Thousands of years ago, the people of the world convened together, and decided to build a tower in celebration of the ideal society they’d thought they’d formed, marked by a single ambition, and united by a single language. This tower would be the crowning achievement of their humanist utopia. They thought that by their own power, by their own greatness, they could make their world perfect. They were wrong. (If you aren't catching my drift, read Genesis 11).

Ever since the failure at Babel, the diverse peoples of earth have continued to strive for such a world, one they could take hold of and make perfect. We seem to think there’s something inherent in our race that makes us great, that makes us conquerors, that makes us world-builders, and that if we can only tap into that something, everything will go right for us.

Don’t believe me? Look at our history. Dictators have gone to extremes to bring out the parts of the human race that they think will lead to a golden future. Look at our philosophy. Great thinkers have theorized on the flaws of society, and what people can do to cure them. Look at our stories. Authors dream up utopian cities, and worlds, and federations, quite similar to the dreams of Babel, where human intuition and goodness has solved all our problems. (Sci-fi fans. You know what I mean.)

But like Babel, all our ambitions lie there unfinished. Why? Why would we long so deeply for a perfect world if we can never achieve it?

You see, humanity lived in a perfect world once. The original man and woman were completely united with one another, and fulfilled to the core of their being. And it all centered around their Creator and Sustainer, God.

God was was the author of this original utopia. As His creations enjoyed, walked with, and came to know Him, they achieved the purpose of their existence. They lived in the only truly perfect society.

Then, as we are now too painfully aware of, they fell for the ruse we have been falling for ever since. They believed the lie that they could have perfection based on their own power, knowledge, and nature, apart from God. They were wrong. (This account is in Genesis 1-3).

So, now, here our race is. Delving further into the myth that we are the key to flawless existence. That if we only try hard enough, we can do anything. All the while, we are only one step away from the true answer to all humanity’s problems: our Creator and our Lord.

We reach for utopia in every direction but up.

Yeah, I know it's more depressing than my usual fare, but this is only the first part to the story. Tune in for my next Wednesday post, two Wednesdays from today, and I'll continue with the same theme, but with a more hopeful ending. In the meantime, there will be a top 5 Tuesday article that will probably just consist of geeky fluff. I hope you enjoyed. I hope I made you think. I'd love to hear from you!

Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora

It's Alive!

  

 Many people consider Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to be the first novel that can be concretely classified as science fiction. It is the story of a scientist who discovers the secret of creating life. He uses the science of his day to construct a living creature out of dead tissue. In doing so, both the author and her protagonist stumble upon a moral conundrum that has fueled sci-fi ever since. What happens when man tampers with the affairs of God?

     The question is not so much ‘can man create life?’; that is the domain of scientists. It is the job of science to answer the ‘can we?’. It is the job of science fiction to answer the ‘what if we?’. What if we had the ability to create life?

    Where did we get this kind of a question? We got it in the Garden of Eden when we learned an important but tragic lesson about human pride.

"Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate”. - Genesis 3:4-6 NKJV

     The thing that tempted Eve about the fruit was not that she thought it would taste good, but that she thought it would make her like God. God is the creator of life. Therefore, attempting to mimic this creation is attempting to control our own destiny as humans. Like Eve biting into the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is attempting to make ourselves like God. No wonder the search for the secret of life fascinates us so much. It has always fascinated us.

    Science fiction gives us a laboratory, if I may, in which to experiment with this idea. Oftentimes in fiction, ‘playing God’ results in disaster, just as it did in reality. Here are a few familiar examples. Though these categories don’t  always show the downsides of tampering with life, or even ask the questions I’m discussing, they very frequently do:

1. Man-made Monsters-

    Frankenstein's Monster, Mr. Hyde, and similar early science fiction and horror icons often leave death in their wake and cause the destruction of their creators.

2. Robots-

    (I’m not going to get into ideas of sentience and personhood right now. That’s a post for another time. Or a lot of posts for a lot of other times.) Though not technically alive, these machines with a personality (and sometimes a temper), can spell doom for humanity. They also have a tendency to try to become the dominant ‘species’ in the cosmos. Think of V’ger or Nomad from Star Trek, the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, and Ultron from Marvel Comics. (Also, there is a Classic Doctor Who episode called “The Robots of Death”. I thought I would just throw that one out there. )

3. Clones-

    They are pretty similar to robots in their usage, only they’re biological, and made with already existing DNA. Some clones (as well as some robots), can be harmless and even heroic characters. However, they can also be the source of all sorts of moral and practical mixups, chaos and confusion. For example, in the Star Wars prequels, they were corrupted into a huge war-machine made up of identical, expendable soldiers.

4. Genetic Engineering-

     You could say it has its pros and Khans… (alright, that was terrible, but do you know how long I've been waiting to use that one?). On the one hand, you can get someone like Captain America. On the other, you can get someone like Khan Noonien Singh- which is bad.

(Fun and geeky side note- Another member of Khan’s genetically engineered super-race appears in the Star Trek Animated Series episode, “The Infinite Vulcan”)

5. Terraforming-

    Though this creates a different sort of life than the other examples, it is still an example of humans trying to shape and control life. Usually, terraforming stories end with the destruction of pre-existing life, or just failure.  Consider Stargate SG-1 episode, “Scorched Earth”, The Genesis planet of the Star Trek films, and the xeno-terraforming in The War of the Worlds.

    Should man tamper in the domain of God? What would be the result if he did? These are questions that we have grappled with since the beginning of science fiction, and really, since the beginning of humanity. We are created in the image of God, yet we are creatures who are subject to Him. When we try through our own ingenuity to make ourselves great, or exalt ourselves to the loftiness of God, we will always fail. Still, concepts of life from non-life are fascinating to us. There is much to explore, much to learn about the human condition and our place in the universe. What are the limitations? When is it right and when is it wrong? What are the consequences? Why are they there? These are the questions that will continue to inspire science  and fiction until the end of time. And when we genuinely search for answers, we will find them in the Creator and Owner of all life.


Hello again! I'm back! Now that it's summer, I'm hoping to post more regularly. So, don't join me next week, because I'll be out of town....But! After that, I'll try to post articles like this on Wednesdays, exciting top 5 lists on Tuesdays, and random snippets of geekiness on Saturdays. The next of these Saturday shorts will be an explanation of the name of this blog.

Hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any ideas or examples of your own on this topic, please comment! I'd love to hear from you!

Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora