Walking Machines

"Harrison Bergeron" is another dystopia centered upon the idea of equality, especially reminiscent of Lois Lowry's "The Giver," which I'm sure others read in middle or high school, or even the somewhat shallow but entertaining film, "Equilibrium." What always gets me in these kinds of stories is the treatment of pain. In the end, Hazel can't remember that she's mourning the death of her son, and her husband encourages her to forget sadness. Of course, we all remember the cliches about how we must have darkness to have light, good to have evil, etc. The one about pain and joy definitely applies here.

I assume the goal of equality and sameness in the story is so that everyone can achieve happiness without interfering with others' happiness. All too often in our current time, we have to compete with others in the quest to get what we want out of life. The story's government eliminates the need to compete in the interest of everyone receiving the same fruits out of life. However, in eliminating that competition, the government does away with the sense of accomplishment when we achieve our goals. I think we need the struggle and the pain in order to feel, so that we can truly understand the joys we work so hard for.

I find that in all kinds of friendships and love, the relationship is not just defined by mutual affinity, but by how willing the other is to put up with the less appealing parts of your personality. I can't predict how well a friend will get along with a new boyfriend/girlfriend until the honeymooning couple actually experience a first fight. You gotta work for it, etc.

And as to "Welcome to the Monkey House," I just prefer not to even think about sex not being fun. Apologies, but that's just how it goes for me.

... So it goes. (Vonnegut just wretched in his grave.)

An afterthought: The subject title comes from Revl9n's "Walking Machine."

She said, "I like it better when it hurts"
She said, "I don't want to be a walking machine"
She said, "I like it better when it feels"
She said, "I don't want to be a walking machine"
So let the rain keep coming down

Yeah, profound, but I want to make up for my personal lack of macro.

Blog Rampage Pt. 1: Sexy Circuitry

I'm going to spend the next few days catching up on my posts so bear with me.

First off, let's go waaay back to Welcome to the Monkey House. I'll start with "EPICAC," which I took to the most mainly because I'm a sucker for robot love stories. It really is the robot that shines here, isn't it? The narrator has little charm, and the means by which he attains his love wins over no reader. So why shouldn't EPICAC get the girl? We discussed in the colloquium that people need both the physical and emotional aspects to have a relationship, so I suppose the tragedy of EPICAC is the placement of a beautiful soul in an unable vessel. Though what if EPICAC were humanoid?

Okay, shoutout to mah nerdcore BSG fans: can cylons love? To those too cool for school, the science fiction drama Battlestar Galactica features some pretty sexy robot (cylon) ladies searching for love, and at least one makes a pretty convincing case for deserving it. I mean, I used the word "soul" just now pretty presumptuously, but the way that cylon Sharon/Boomer (played by the Grace "2hot4tv" Park, pictured) looks at her man, it makes you at least consider acknowledging she has one. What it comes down to in this example is whether or not she still can love because she was engineered or whether her human-like vessel would make her a viable love interest to any of you.

For those merely skimming, my concluding query: that robot, would you hit it?

(Oh God, it's 5:44, I'm late for this week's reading group. Hahahahaha.)