I think its really interesting to compare the uncanny feeling brought about by nearly-human robots and the similar feeling that some terran-humans seem to have towards the other sub-species of man in The Word for World is Forest. During the conference scene it becomes clear that there terran-humans who are prejudiced and not comfortable including other humanoid-races in their species. For these individuals the feeling must be very similar to the uncanny feeling of dealing with an android, a sentient, human-like existence that isn't quite human, at least in the eyes of these terrans.
A lot of my major-courses deal with phylogenetic (evolutionary family) relationships. This is an interesting niche for science fiction to explore. Humanoid life or life with sentience equivalent to human's is a definite possibility but is either not a reality or isn't known of yet. To the reader it can be strange and uncomfortable because the idea of other highly sentient life challenges ideas of human uniqueness and supremacy. The reader has to stretch their mind to imagine empathy for and approach to interacting with a different but equal species of subspecies mind. The species relationships are also a great way to comment on race relations. I hope that the relations between the Cetians, Hainish, Athstheans, and the Terrans as one species becomes a focal point of the story especially as Selver's quest unfolds.
should be interesting
No comments:
Post a Comment