End of Robots, Computers, and Science!

"Burning Chrome" marks our last story in the "Robots, Computers, and Science" section of the class. I often like to take these section divisions to use as a time for reaction: what has this section of the course taught you? Things you may wish (but don't have to) think about:
- how has this section of the course met or thwarted your expectations of SF?
- what practical literary techniques have you learned that are valuable to you?
- What story from this section do you think best achieves/exemplifies the goals of SF? How so?

            The section of the course on Robots, Computers, and Science has definitely met my expectations for SF. Every story was SO different, and all the authors had totally different ways of telling their short stories. Some were in chronological order, some blatant and straightforward, others mysterious and scattered; it was a nice variety to read. I did not realize how broad of a genre SF was until reading all these different stories. “Liar,” “Algorithms for Love,” “Second Variety,” and “Frankenstein” all discussed artificial life, but in totally different ways. However, one thing they all had in common was that the artificial life ending up not being a good thing and the creator was usually left at the mercy of the created. The other three stories all touched on alternate realities, whether it was the supposed future in “Take Your Choice,” the new and transformed mind in “Flowers for Algernon,” or the inside of the computer systems and the different world the story took place in, in “Burning Chrome”. We have only read seven stories and already we have covered a wide variety of topics and writing techniques used in SF. The literary techniques I learned include using metaphors, different ways of describing time, the technique of leaving out certain facts so the reader must infer, and details, details, details! Also this particular array of authors all wrote in different tones, which really held the stories together, plus some authors revealed the main characters thoughts more than others. However, of all the stories in this section, I think “Algorithms for Love” best achieves the goals of SF. Not only was it my favorite story in the section, but also it tackled much larger issues than the other stories. The main character, Elena, was dealing with her own nervous breakdown and the destruction of her marriage, and all because of robots! She created them and made them so lifelike she wondered what was different about her human life and that of her robots. Eventually this all led to her demise, whether literal or symbolic is up for the reader to imagine.