Summer Reading

From the desk of Cristina Fucaloro, Poetry Editor...

Hello all,

I am pleased to be a new member of this blog, and will do my best to contribute to the discussions that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading from the other bloggers.

Well, after what seemed to be an endless summer of relaxing, teaching, reading, and attempting to finish at least one painting, the fall quarter is back.  This time, I am in my final year of Grad school and with much anticipation, I am looking forward to finishing my degree.  Although, the excitement comes with some remorse, I will miss my fellow Grad students and the tumultuous life of being a student.  But, until then, I still have another year of stress, papers, heavy amounts of reading, and all the other facets that accompany the Master’s program.

The reading that I did over the summer was not, unfortunately, a large amount, however I did happen to stumble upon a novel that I am currently reading called Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson, who holds a doctorate in Robotics.  When I discovered that the author had a PhD in Robotics, I was at first a little hesitant, worried that all the technological jargon would confuse me.  However, his writing style and descriptive imagery proves to be comprehensible and enjoyable.

Set in the not-so-distant future, the novel depicts a society in which robots, all different in shape, size, appearance and function, are commonly used as household appliances, toys, companionship, military function, etc, which are trusted and controlled by humans.  However, the so-called trusted robots become a deadly creation and the novel begins with the start of their uprising, and the execution of their one mission: to destroy humans.

This popular notion: we create what ultimately sets out to destroy us or we end up destroying what we create is not so rare in the literary and film world.  This notion can be applied to many things that exist today, and within the literature realm, it is the consequence of our actions and creation that results in our doom.  Our desire to push the boundary a little further to see how far we can go, in terms of technological advancement, typifies this need to feed our curiosity and has ultimately been a topic of some heated debates.  Having said that, however I am a strong advocate for technological advancement, especially for medical purposes and space exploration, so the argument that we are pushing too far doesn’t, for lack of a better word and pun, compute with me.  Am I afraid? Maybe.  But I, along with many others, allow for my curiosity to override any fears, which is either what makes us creative geniuses or dangerous manifestations of what can happen if we continue to “play God.”

Returning back to the novel: do I think there will be some sort of robot apocalypse-type scenario—it’s quite possible, do I think it will be in the near future—again, it’s quite possible, will I let that stop me from the curiosity of how far we can push the limit—absolutely not.  With that in mind, I will continue to enjoy my novel and use it only as a source of entertainment, but just in case, I will hold on to it as a possible guide for the potentially not-so-distant future of a robotic uprising.


Faithfully,
Cristina