![]() “Most people talk about fear of the unknown, but if there is anything to fear, it is the known.” -Deepak Chopra Every step into the unknown is a risk, but it is not always what scares us the most. According to Webster's dictionary, the unknown is described as something that requires discovery, identification, or clarification. In a movie and short story analyzed in class, this concept is a fundamental support in the storyline for both. When connecting this quote and idea to the movie "Interstellar," directed by Christopher Nolan, the initial talk of fear was that there were no guarantees that they would make it back and that they would survive the journey or what they would find beyond the stars. This unknown of what is out there in the universe could not be classified as it still required discovery. Therefore, these thoughts are not what keep Cooper from being scared and giving up; instead, it was the realization that "Plan A," the idea to carry out mass evacuation and bring humanity onto one of three potentially habitable planets, was utterly a ruse. It was never even there to begin with. Cooper soon learns that to guarantee the human population's survival, the endurance team must travel to the planet with the best chance of supporting life and growing embryos there. Putting Cooper's children before anything is apprehended that Murphy believes that by leaving for this expedition, Cooper is leaving her behind and would either perish in space or not return. Cooper is scared of the known, not the unknown. The clarification that he might never get to see his children again is a greater fear than the whole undiscovered galaxy. Furthermore, Howard Fast wrote a short story that also connects to the quote from Chopra called "The Large Ant." In this narrative, Morgan kills what appears to be enormous and out of the blue with a golf club. Later, he brings the corpse to an entomologist who, oddly, is interested in Morgan's discovery and asks him why he murdered it. Sequentially, Morgane needs an answer to this question. Even though the type of creature was unknown, it at first glance seemed to be a giant ant: "I had to look at the ant now, and I realized that I had not truly looked at it before. We don't look carefully at a thing that is horrible or repugnant to us. You can't look carefully at a thing through a screen of hatred." (Fast) The only known idea planted into a human's brain in a situation like Morgan's is bitterness and disgust. Instinctively, our species will not always reason to escape a position where the fear is known. For example, Moragne killed the ant on the spot. Even though the results hold more questions of what kind of creature died, one thing is for sure: It was the initially known fear that had been identified and led Morgane to assassinate the creature. In conclusion, the idea the known scares us more than the unknown is a common theme in the movie “Interstellar,” and the short story “The Large Ant.”
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![]() "We can't change. We are what we are." (Fast 8) is the statement Fitzgerald, the government man in the short story The Large Ant written by Howard Fast, claims about humanity. The story poses a question about the very nature of humankind: Is humanity innately violent, and are we truly incapable of changing that? After reading the short story in class, I believe that humanity is not innately violent but that we are afraid of the unknown as humans. Think of it as a comfort zone. For most of our life, we live according to a supposedly predictable script; therefore, considerable surprises scare us like a scary horror movie! When Mr. Morgan goes fishing with his pals in the story The Large Ant, he discovers a bizarre new kind of ant, with his first instinct being to swing at this unusual animal with an iron. From this perspective, violence can be seen as an adaptive strategy. Some may run, while others' instinct towards the situation would be, similar to Mr. Morgane, to let the unknown bite the dust. Even after bringing the species to the neighbourhood museum, Mr. Morgan learns more about himself and the human race than he does about the ant. Liebermann interrogates further when asking: "That is why I am asking you why you killed it. You must have had a reason. Did it seem about to attack you?" (Fast 5) Possessing reason is the characteristic of having the capacity to understand and the ability to think quantitatively or rationally. When Morgane was before the creature, there was no room to take a minute to process his subsequent actions. Under stress, instinct is much more potent in how anyone responds and behaves in various situations. Therefore, humanity is not innately violent by reason, but the fight-or-flight instinct plays a role. Furthermore, regarding the is we are genuinely incapable of changing the violence within us, it is the whole world's responsibility to change. On account of truly being incapable of changing, I cannot entirely agree with the statement, but it takes many steps to get there. With many ongoing political differences, these outside factors demonstrate what humans are; they are our role models, as humans are simple beings and shape their nature through what they see. 11/12/2022 1 Comment "The Pedestrian" and "The Fun They Had." - One cannot hold onto things from the past Technology constantly evolves as the ages pass, regardless of the current market conditions. Ground-breaking innovations and changes in everyday life are debated if they are a positive impact on society or not. The following statement is for sure; one cannot hold onto the things from the past. This theme is portrayed in the short stories "The Pedestrian" and "The Fun They Had."
These short stories were written more than 50 years ago and are a creative way of demonstrating how changes to the usual routine and recognizing these changes make us realize how scary the concept of time can be. A close friend once told me that life is like a train; it keeps moving forward. The fear of technology and not knowing what further awaits to step onto this train prevents one from moving forward. Many "conditions" will get on and off at these different train stops when passing through them, but we cannot keep dragging them along behind us when they have already gotten off the train and learned to adapt to what has come on board. When relating this notion to futuristic technology-centred short stories, it is crucial to understand how we recognize what is changing in the dystopian futures predicted. In "The Pedestrian," there is a dark twist on technology. Leonard's refusal to hook himself into the electronic brain-drainer as he wants to take the air, which the rest of the community has voluntarily accepted, makes the police focus on him. At the conclusion of Asimov's short story, Margie goes to "school," but she cannot focus because she daydreams about how it must have been in the preparatory schools. Similarly, "The Fun They Had" details how Margie has a mechanical teacher and books are now digitally transferred as she discovers new concepts about the past. Once again, this short story demonstrates that even though one might like their situation another way, we should not put all our attention on the past and focus on the future. What I feel Bradbury and Asimov are warning humankind about and perhaps commenting on in our society today is that it is too dependent on technology. The advancement of technology is changing how we interact with each other. By virtue of this, and as exposed in each of the stories, technology is isolating society from the outside world and constantly promoting ways to interact less with the community. Overall, the short stories "The Pedestrian" and "The Fun They Had" take a darker look at technology to portray an evident theme and comment on society today. |
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December 2022
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