Benjamin Perez Blog: LMST 345

 1. I was cringing at the content of the text at first. But aside from what was taking place that made me cringe, I also found it to be fascinating and bizarre. The nature of the story, what was happening in this story made it seem interesting and bizarre, if I am understanding it right. It seems that T'Gatoi is implanting eggs in humans that, once they burst open, have to be removed so that they do not devour their host. The worm-like creatures are then removed from the human, and placed in animal flesh to continue feasting. What was happening in this story made it seem very 'alien' to me, for lack of a better word. When things like a car, or home are mentioned, I think, "Oh that is something I am familiar with". But then descriptions of T'Gatoi having many limbs and using humans to farm creatures made me wonder at first what was going on, and how did the story become something so bizarre? Overall, if I am understanding it right, fascinating story. 2. The con...

 Ghost in the Shell is one of the stories that comes to mind when thinking about cyberpunk because of the defining elements in the story that range from aesthetics, to things that serve more of a purpose. Most of the unique cyberpunk elements in this story relate to the ability of technology to work with the mind. Some technology can be linked directly with the person, such as a kind of vehicle that was used for each member of the police unit to move around. It also linked the unit through the mind so that they can communicate. Technology like this appears often in the manga, adding to the 'cyberpunk' genre. The story of Ghost in the Shell follows the character Major Motoko Kusanagi, a police member and leader of her unit. She is investigating a criminal who has committed various crimes involving the hacking of brains that are linked to cyberware. She ends up discovering the source through a kind of 'hacking' of her own experience where the being is showing up in her mi...

 Although Science Fiction is generally not my preference, Babel 17 was a unique journey that explored all of the elements that make a sci-fi story interesting. Story, characters, and environments all added to the experience to make it a unique journey.  The story follows Rydra Wong, a poet with telepathic abilities, as she captains a vessel to find the source of a language that is being used as a weapon. Her adventure begins with gathering a crew to assist her in piloting a ship. She must find the source, and uncover the truth behind it, which she is driven to do with a strong desire due to the nature of the language itself.  The locations explored reminds me of Star Wars with all of the diverse environments. There are scenes that take place in bizarre locations such as a location where the dead can be brought back to assist captains as members of the crew. The ship becomes an environment to the crew for a duration of the journey, being able to act as living quarters. Spa...

 The Martian is an incredible read. Using both technology, and scientific and mathematical factors add a sense of realism to a story that can make it believable, which happened in the case of The Martian. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this book are the details used in describing the math and sciences of all the problems that Mark Watney encounters. For example, Watney has to combine oxygen and hydrogen, and to get hydrogen, he has to slowly get hydrozine into a transition to become it. He has to do this just to create water. Everything he does to get his crops growing involves detailed scenarios of how Watney is able to make it possible. This level of information actually had me convinced that the story could be based on a true story although it also did seem too fantastic. Nevertheless, I did end up googling it to see if it was, it isn't. But again, the level of descriptive information feels like the author put a lot of thought and study into the subject. This story is a ...