Created Meaning
What have been the lessons of this semester so far?
Identity, in all its forms and permutations, is a social construct rooted in physical manifestation. Gender, race, class, sexuality, knowledge: these are determined by culture, inescapably so. The individual chooses to accept or reject these identifying markers, but this is still participation, engagement. Objective reality exists such that water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, objects drifting in space follow a causal trajectory, and only .004% of the known/knowable universe is composed of the materials from which every object in this solar system is made. History has a dual nature: the objective reality in which only events occur, and the subjective, narrative variety in which motivation becomes a factor.
Science fiction is, intentionally or not, laden with the social constructs under which the author operates; its popularity is a measure of social resonance, and therefore sci-fi is a viable avenue of social inquiry. Cyborg imagery means what the observer thinks it means, because the audience, too, is laden with social constructs. Context is construct; the motivation of the speaker (motivational or not) is subject to historical narrative-building, just as all history is subject to the motivation of the historian. If history is a narrative, then all historians are, at best, writers of realistic fiction. Anything more than that is objectivity, which, while true, is also meaningless.
Nevertheless - subjectivity is subject to objectivity. Reality is that it is, and trumps intent. If an objective truth is knowable and known, then any narrative which incontrovertibly contradicts objective truth is, by elimination, untrue. A history in which no one dies is untrue. A history in which water flows uphill is untrue. History in which whole populations are invisible? The difference between history and fiction is in structural integrity. The steeper an incline, the more the force of descent will resemble gravity. The same for narrative and reality.
Time, like history, is dualistic. Objectively, it is the meaningless progression of immeasurable moments; a continuum relative to space and motion. Subjectively, it is the tool of "tradition" and progress, social change and stability. It is a narrative weapon; "this is how it always was", "this is how it was before". It enables illusion, delusion and immersion. Truth: Oscar Wilde's great grandson is only thirty years old this year. Marriage today does not mean what marriage meant five hundred years ago. Neither does sex, or religion. There is no such thing as "always"; yet the word is used, consistently, to create or demolish narratives subject to the purposes of the narrator. The goal of history is not to be more true, but to affect narrative truth, to alter constructs or destroy them.
The individual is a process, reflected in and reflecting the social narrative. The direction of that narrative is a choice, independent of objective reality or metaphysical possibility. Since metaphysics are literally beyond physics, they are immeasurable, and therefore largely irrelevant. Whether there is a God beyond, above or through the cosmos, or three gods, or ten, Heaven, Hell, Shangrila or nothing at all, the truth of this specific reality is the decision of physically manifested beings within this reality. That is to say, while decisions may be informed by an individual's belief about what may or may not exist outside of physicality, the actions taken, or not, are the product of a choice, made by an individual incorporated into this objective history, and the consequences are bound in physics and construct.
Conclusion? Hybridization. Objectivity holds, while subjectivity gains relevance. The molecule matters, and the individual matters, and history is the story we choose to tell ourselves. The narrative of social history is the measure of the society that creates it, and, like science fiction, reflects upon the constructs from which it derives.
Identity, in all its forms and permutations, is a social construct rooted in physical manifestation. Gender, race, class, sexuality, knowledge: these are determined by culture, inescapably so. The individual chooses to accept or reject these identifying markers, but this is still participation, engagement. Objective reality exists such that water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, objects drifting in space follow a causal trajectory, and only .004% of the known/knowable universe is composed of the materials from which every object in this solar system is made. History has a dual nature: the objective reality in which only events occur, and the subjective, narrative variety in which motivation becomes a factor.
Science fiction is, intentionally or not, laden with the social constructs under which the author operates; its popularity is a measure of social resonance, and therefore sci-fi is a viable avenue of social inquiry. Cyborg imagery means what the observer thinks it means, because the audience, too, is laden with social constructs. Context is construct; the motivation of the speaker (motivational or not) is subject to historical narrative-building, just as all history is subject to the motivation of the historian. If history is a narrative, then all historians are, at best, writers of realistic fiction. Anything more than that is objectivity, which, while true, is also meaningless.
Nevertheless - subjectivity is subject to objectivity. Reality is that it is, and trumps intent. If an objective truth is knowable and known, then any narrative which incontrovertibly contradicts objective truth is, by elimination, untrue. A history in which no one dies is untrue. A history in which water flows uphill is untrue. History in which whole populations are invisible? The difference between history and fiction is in structural integrity. The steeper an incline, the more the force of descent will resemble gravity. The same for narrative and reality.
Time, like history, is dualistic. Objectively, it is the meaningless progression of immeasurable moments; a continuum relative to space and motion. Subjectively, it is the tool of "tradition" and progress, social change and stability. It is a narrative weapon; "this is how it always was", "this is how it was before". It enables illusion, delusion and immersion. Truth: Oscar Wilde's great grandson is only thirty years old this year. Marriage today does not mean what marriage meant five hundred years ago. Neither does sex, or religion. There is no such thing as "always"; yet the word is used, consistently, to create or demolish narratives subject to the purposes of the narrator. The goal of history is not to be more true, but to affect narrative truth, to alter constructs or destroy them.
The individual is a process, reflected in and reflecting the social narrative. The direction of that narrative is a choice, independent of objective reality or metaphysical possibility. Since metaphysics are literally beyond physics, they are immeasurable, and therefore largely irrelevant. Whether there is a God beyond, above or through the cosmos, or three gods, or ten, Heaven, Hell, Shangrila or nothing at all, the truth of this specific reality is the decision of physically manifested beings within this reality. That is to say, while decisions may be informed by an individual's belief about what may or may not exist outside of physicality, the actions taken, or not, are the product of a choice, made by an individual incorporated into this objective history, and the consequences are bound in physics and construct.
Conclusion? Hybridization. Objectivity holds, while subjectivity gains relevance. The molecule matters, and the individual matters, and history is the story we choose to tell ourselves. The narrative of social history is the measure of the society that creates it, and, like science fiction, reflects upon the constructs from which it derives.