In the slides, I try to suggest that Butler’s book has, at the end of the day, profoundly utopian urges, the proposition that alternatives to late capitalism and its many problems might exist.  What do you think?  Do you see anything hopeful in the book? If so, what?  Is it possible to feel any drive toward something better after all of the brutality?

In the slides, I try to suggest that Butler’s book has, at the end of the day, profoundly utopian urges, the proposition that alternatives to late capitalism and its many problems might exist.  What do you think?  Do you see anything hopeful in the book? If so, what?  Is it possible to feel any drive toward something better after all of the brutality?

In the slides, I try to suggest that Butler’s book has, at the end of the day, profoundly utopian urges, the proposition that alternatives to late capitalism and its many problems might exist.  What do you think?  Do you see anything hopeful in the book? If so, what?  Is it possible to feel any drive toward something better after all of the brutality?

In the slides, I try to suggest that Butler’s book has, at the end of the day, profoundly utopian urges, the proposition that alternatives to late capitalism and its many problems might exist.  What do you think?  Do you see anything hopeful in the book? If so, what?  Is it possible to feel any drive toward something better after all of the brutality?

What is one important distinction that Butler draws between her father’s understanding of the world and Lauren’s?  Where is the specific point in the novel’s first half that made that distinction clear to you?   

What is one important distinction that Butler draws between her father’s understanding of the world and Lauren’s?  Where is the specific point in the novel’s first half that made that distinction clear to you?   

What is one important distinction that Butler draws between her father’s understanding of the world and Lauren’s?  Where is the specific point in the novel’s first half that made that distinction clear to you?   

What is one important distinction that Butler draws between her father’s understanding of the world and Lauren’s?  Where is the specific point in the novel’s first half that made that distinction clear to you?   

The slides for today bring up theories of post-humanism that emerge in the late-twentieth century and the ways that some cyborg characters in Gibson’s fiction demonstrate the potential for human re-definition and rebellion. How do you see Johnny himself at the end of the story?  Is he yearning for pre-cyborg humanity or embracing the fusion of flesh and technology in his own body? Is he a figure who imagines new kinds of selfhood and political resistance, or someone who yearns nostalgically for a purer mode of human life?

The slides for today bring up theories of post-humanism that emerge in the late-twentieth century and the ways that some cyborg characters in Gibson’s fiction demonstrate the potential for human re-definition and rebellion. How do you see Johnny himself at the end of the story?  Is he yearning for pre-cyborg humanity or embracing the fusion of flesh and technology in his own body? Is he a figure who imagines new kinds of selfhood and political resistance, or someone who yearns nostalgically for a purer mode of human life?