What will the future look like to you in fifteen years?

What will the future look like to you in fifteen years?

In fifteen years? Full of war and suffering. With how our world is progressing right now, there will either be more war and violence and suffering OR, there will be no world here at all. If we end up in a nuclear war, no thanks to our current president. Gun violence, school shootings, crime, war, all have been increasing as I grew up. Only getting worse since Trump took office. If he is re-elected, we will most likely be in a nuclear war with North Korea. a quarter of Americans will be kicked out of the country for not being white essentially, another quarter would be killed in mass shootings and the rest are airheads who are oblivious to the reality of what we are causing. I honestly don't see a future in fifteen years. No one worth looking forward to anyway.

What will the future look like to you in fifty years?

In fifty years? Same answer. A future full of war and violence, or no future at all. Radiation will be everywhere, cancer rates will increase because of this. The Government will do nothing about it. There will be no trees, no grass, no clears skies or brilliant blue seas. Animals will be dying off in the thousands. Countries will be at war with each other. The world will be overpopulated, poverty will increase. The government will be a dictating rule of military officers. This will for sure happen if we stick to our current path. I can't even imagine a world without vibrant green meadows, or the loud crashing of the ocean waves at the beach, or the relaxing shade given by towering trees. All, gone, in 50 years if we don't change things now. This is a future no worth existing in. Not for me. This is a hard reality to read, but it is true. This will happen if we don't change our current course. Would you want to live in a future like this? Full of misery and decay? Is this the future you want to raise a family in or create a career in or grow old in? Is this a future you want to happen? If not, then why are you not doing anything to stop this from happening? Why are we letting this happen?

Bloodchild - In-Class Reading Response

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

I'm quite confused as to what is happening, but I'm guessing it is about an alien species using human beings as hosts to bare offspring? This is really odd to me because the story seems to emphasizes the personal connection the alien and the host need to bare the offspring.  The only depiction I've seen of aliens breeding with humans is from the film franchise 'Alien'. Either way, I'm quite disturbed by this story. I am more disturbed by the ending. And the implications of the ending scene is too disturbing for me to explain in detail.

2. What connections did you make with this story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work in which you were able to connect.

Well, this story sounds very similar to how the Xenomorph from the 'Alien' franchise reproduces their offspring. The creatures in this text seem to select a specific human host, particularly a male one, and then transfer their eggs within the host in some way. I could not really tell how from the text, but considering that the host must undress to do this, I'm assuming it's through very private means. For example, the Xenomorph transfers it's eggs through the mouth of the host using its weird tongue thing. In this text, it seems to be more... intimate? From the description, it seems it might be similar to how humans reproduce? Which is even more disturbing to me.

3. What changes would make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I would definitely change how this alien creature implants it's offspring into its host, it's too disturbing to me to even think of adapting in any form of medium, particularly film. The process seems much too graphic to depict on the big screen, and it seems how the process is done is important to the story, seeing how detailed it was in the text. I would use film as a medium to best depict this story, however, I personally would not watch it. However, I believe the film would best explain and visually show the story, as it's really hard to picture this world through text. I would also add some kind of prologue or intro as to what the world is, how things are living, etc. Some backstory. As it is now, it is very confusing and loses the reader quickly in the beginning. After going a bit further in the story you get the idea that this is some kind of alien creature. However, it would help plenty to point that out in a brief summary of sorts in the very beginning to understand the relationship between the aliens and the humans. Without these minor changes, this would be an unwatchable failure of a Sci-Fi film.

Cyberpunk and Steampunk - Legend by Marie Lu

In the book, the Republic, once the United States, is always at war with its neighbors and uses a misguided test, called the ’Trial’, to pinpoint prodigies within the country. They are also dealing with plagues that seem to only affect the poor districts, in reality, the government is in fact purposefully infected these areas as experimentation. Depending on where this prodigy came from, they are treated very differently. June Iparis is a fifteen-year-old prodigy who is the ’supposed’ only person to ever score a perfect score on her Trial. "A few others are tapped for politics and Congress, and some are chosen to stay behind and teach. But Drake is the Republic's best university, and seeing as how the best are always assigned into the military, our drill room is packed with students.” (Ch. 2, Legend) when June scaled a building at her school and her classmates' gossip in awe due to her skills in many activities given on campus. "I glance behind me and manage a smile for them. "Fourteen floors," I call back. That gets them buzzing again. Somehow, this has become the closest relationship I have with the other Drake students. I am respected, discussed, gossiped about. Not really talked to.” (Ch. 2, Legend) However, prodigies born in poverty, like Day, are lied to, being told that they failed their ’Trial’ as an excuse to use them for experimentation. The idea of a person with intelligence beyond the norms being used for the government's military gain, is, unfortunately, something we do see in our lives today. Anyone who fails the test given by the government in the book is immediately killed, or experimented on, depending on the person’s wealth. "An inferior child with bad genes is no use to the country. If you're lucky, Congress will let you die without first sending you to the labs to be examined for imperfections.” (Ch. 1, Legend)

This reality of our world centers around inequality between the poor and wealthy, the unrealistic idea of perfection and the fear of a dystopian future ruled by a militaristic government. We all have this paralyzing fear of the government experimenting on people, and over zesting the unnecessary use of war. The primary fear many share in our world is the government taking over control using war, violence, and fear. This reality depicted in Legend is centered around two characters from two very opposite sides of the world. June is from the wealthier side of the Republic, her family being more military based. Day, on the other hand, is from the poverty-stricken area, where an unnamed plague is specifically being caught from the poor residents. At age 10, Day took his Trial given by the government and supposedly failed it. Due to failing, he and other failed kids are sent to labs to be experimented on for imperfections. In actuality, Day passed his Trial, but due to him being from a poverty-stricken family, he was used to be experimented on, in an attempt to isolate the prodigy gene to create more prodigies. June, however, is treated with praise and expectations, being trained and guided into the life of a soldier loyal only to the Republic government. The only reason they join sides is due to June realizing Day was innocent of his supposed crime of murdering her brother Metias. And as she investigates her brother’s murder, she discovers that her brother found out the truth about the Republic and was in fact killed under orders of the ladder by his fellow officer, Thomas. Afterward, Thomas and the Republic did everything they could to pin the murder on Day to utilizes absolute control over June due to her prodigy skills.

This idea about using a test of sorts to test the intelligence in a child is done in our world now, through SAT’s and other standardized tests. Tests that are in fact designed to make a child fail, using aspects from past tests that children failed to create a harder and more difficult to pass a test to impose the idea that the child must get a specific score in order to succeed in the future. That is a horrible and traumatic ideal to imprint on impressionable children. We should not let the idea of perfection grow like this because it is unhealthy and is not even working. Another thing we must stop doing is imposing the idea to kids that war is good or necessary. I cannot explain how many times I get ads on YouTube or on TV about going to the army, navy, airfare, etc. because it is the right thing to do. It is not. Because we do not need to be in War. But the government is imposing the idea that going the army is fun or is a duty that all must do for our country. It is not, it is a choice. A choice that is being taken from children and teens because they’re being told that it is a must that they have to do eventually. That’s the reality the Marie Lu is depicting in Legend. That is the future she is warning us about. That is the world that we are dangerously inching closer to with each passing decade.

This is a very fascinating book, the first of a trilogy, that I believe opens up the fact that this fear of a dystopian future very much exists. That this future could happen, and that we can stop it. The book also highlights societies unrealistic ideals in perfection in people, particularly children, especially through unnecessary tests created to bring children down. I recommend this book as something to read during your spare time. It is a great book and has an interesting concept. There aren't robots, aliens or weird grotesque monsters, but there are more real-life kinds of science used in this sci-fi book. With gene manipulation and dystopia riddled with war.