The slides for today offer an overview of climate and environmental SF, and the changed consciousness of the central characters in “The People of Sand and Slag.” In the Calorie Man,” US agribusiness companies have reshaped the world from India to the Mississippi valley, largely by engineering and releasing crop diseases that only their genetically modified products can survive. How has this changed world altered the consciousness of Lalji or another character in the story? At what particular point do you see a character comprehending the environment and their place in a striking way?  

The slides for today offer an overview of climate and environmental SF, and the changed consciousness of the central characters in “The People of Sand and Slag.” In the Calorie Man,” US agribusiness companies have reshaped the world from India to the Mississippi valley, largely by engineering and releasing crop diseases that only their genetically modified products can survive. How has this changed world altered the consciousness of Lalji or another character in the story? At what particular point do you see a character comprehending the environment and their place in a striking way?  

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?