Bodies of Tomorrow: Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction by Sherryl Vint

Bodies of Tomorrow: Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction Reviews

• 
  Nestor Ramos

  It's the first book that I read about posthumanism. Especially one that deals with the subject from the Science-Fiction point of view. I found it very interesting, I've been a sci-fi fan since I was a teenager. I keep reading sci-fi novels since in my opinion most of the futures that humankind could imagine(not the ones that could be real, the ones that we could imagine) in some way or the other could be found in sci-fi literature. It's a pity for me not to have been aware of Bodies of Tomorrow way before. I think sci-fi has the strange ability to deal with the consequences of the technologies and how humans behave and how technology changes them using what happens to alien civilizations and how those civilizations do and act, detaching itself from any consequences/limitations that other types of literature could have.
  
  We're already living in a transition to the posthuman era. Is not something that occurs drastically but slowly we are becoming posthuman. Since the end of WWII with the introduction of the nuclear era, computer advances, human organs transplantation, prosthesis implantation, IVF, animal cloning, and more recently, of course, the coming of Social Networks, Smartphones, and the AI used now for facial/voice and other minor subjects are changing the way humankind was used to live. Still, an AI which is superior to the human brain, nor Artificial AI-human brain interfaces or genetically altered people have not come but we're close(How close perhaps 10-40 years?). So it's nice to have people think about the consequences, especially the ethical ones.
  
  The author has done a great job using SF novels to think about the consequences of the posthuman technological modified humans. She makes a special analysis of human liberalism, cartesian body/self-thinking, and its consequences.
  
  The are two things that I don't like about the book and that's why I gave 4 starts. First, is that in the introduction she hasty describes the purpose of the book, she doesn't give time to develop the story. The second is she has the tendency to express other people's opinions on the subject she deals with in each chapter instead of her own opinion. Only in the conclusion, she gave her opinion about the subject. Giving others' opinions as references is good, but I'd like to know her own opinions also.
• 
  Steen Ledet

  A critical reading of a cluster of SF novels, all of which engage with embodiment in different ways. However, Vint's argument never seem to truly come together, always positing the novels as ideologically marred. It seems to me that several of these novels and authors are in fact producing critical work, critiquing conceptions of the human; rather than working only through representations these novels also work through aesthetics. As such, Vint's work never reaches the level of Carl Freedman's *Critical Theory and Science Fiction*, where SF works *as* critical theory, instead of the object of critical theory.
• 
  Teghan

  Brilliant. Simply brilliant. Cyborg theory is a niche passion of mine and this collection of essays is fodder for the brain. The ideas suggested make you think and reconsider the world you inhabit in ways I am rarely challenged.
  
  I've read this book probably 4 times now and each time you get something new out of it. There are so many ideas packed in that one reading doesn't do it.
• 
  M

  Given that this book was finished in 2000, it is surprisingly current.