Technology in Greg Bears Blood Music Essay -- Blood Music Essays

Technology in Greg Bears Blood Music Different genres of literature are particular responses to parliamentary procedure therefore, cyberpunk, as a genre, is a response to our contemporary society, known as the information age. One of the attributes given the genre is that it has an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic tone, warning the ref of the perils of technology, while at the same time celebrating the possibilities of technology, usually through a strong character in the novel. In Greg Bears Blood Music, technology is seen as having a destructive and creative forces as it reshapes the world biologicly, and incorporates every living thing, including a slow girl named Suzy, into the system. Blood Music demonstrates the perils and benefits in a world plenteous of diverse technology, typical of the cyberpunk genre, responding to frightening and powerful possibilities in the secrets of technology which are on the nose on the brink of discovery. First, a demonstration of the kind of technology available today would lend to a better understanding of some of the biological possibilities. Already we can clone and manipulate individual genes. We can take over DNA patterns and build proteins. Information is available at the touch of a button on the newest technology, so that it can be ingested by the younger generations just by browsing the Net. Also, the beginnings of nanotechnology, manipulating individual atoms to create new structures, is beginning to develop. James Graves wrote in a paper focused on the technological advances in our time, that nanotechnology, not too unlike the theories behind Vergils experiments in Blood Music, would allow us to create tiny organisms that could show us more about ourselves, r... ...ction is a particular response to society, and our society is in the information age, then it is incredibly appropriate to include Blood Music to the genre when we are making biological leaps and bounds today. Bear use s his characters to show that the effects may not be so bad for the individual, although technology will probably change the entire impertinence of society as a whole. Perhaps someday cosmetic things will matter less, and we will be able to include a slow tike into the ranks and make her feel whole, just like a part of each personal wants to feel at least normal, hopefully exceptional. Works Cited Bear, Greg. Blood Music. recent York Ace Books, 1996. Graves, James C. Technology and Its Effect on Society. Online. Purdue Lib. Internet. 9 October 1997.(http//nonotech.rutgers.edu/nanotech/papers/graves.hist).