Back to the Future:
…cyber-colonialism through the lens of science fiction
Let’s go back to the future. Back to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...deep into space, the final frontier. These opening lines evoke visions of some of the most popular moments in western television and cinema from the last 40 years. Whether we are aware of it or not, science fiction has been around as long as storytelling itself. Part of the human condition is to be curious not just about the origins of man, but of the possible future of man. Because we cannot see what will happen directly, we have only our sense of history as a guide with which to ponder what might come next. Science fiction, whether through the medium of television, film, literature, or in the predictions of an ancient oracle, is an integral part of our collective imagination.
We are in a constant state of technological advancement. At the beginning of the 21st century, modern culture is reshaping itself in a virtual space as the new frontier. During the last decade, the explosion of the internet has effectively eliminated the concepts of time and space as obstacles for the dissemination of trans-global communications. As the internet continues to grow, there is mounting concern over the notion of “cybercolonialism”, and therefore it is necessary to find ways of thinking through this new cultural phenomenon. The medium of science fiction as a text, or as a new “critical idiom”, is a useful frame for thinking through cultural issues of cybercolonialism. In this essay, I will discuss the dark side of the west, aspects of identity, and examples of scientific engineering using the medium of science fiction as a lens through which we might begin to understand cybercolonialism. Since information now has a virtual, non-physical nature, clearly the economic power of western nations (primarily the United States), and their exclusive control over new technologies is a very serious issue that must be addressed.
Cybercolonialism and its Discontents
The internet is the new frontier, or wild west for western countries. When I began researching
cybercolonialism, I looked around on the internet for information on the subject. I came across an article written by Chris Chesher that mentions virtual reality in relation to colonisation, and I think it had some very relevant points. “[Virtual reality] originated [from] marginal subcultures: from science fiction, cyberpunk, and computer hacker culture, and from institutions including NASA, computer companies, and the military. Perceiving much wider applications than flight simulation and remote control, researchers coined the term "virtual reality", and promoted it as a paradigm shift for computers, and even for the whole [of] society (Chesher, 1992)”. There is indeed the issue of who should be controlling the internet, and the information it provides. The United States’ military invented the internet, and the two entities are inseparable. It should come as no surprise that an organisation such as RAND, which stands for research and development, originates from a post-World War II US military project. RAND pledge their seemingly benevolent mission statement on their website, which is “to further and promote scientific, educational, and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare and security of the United States of America (RAND)”. What about for the rest of the world? ‘”The digital divide” is a term used frequently when discussing cybercolonialism, or “cyber-imperialism”. How much control, if any, will the people of the globalised world have, not only in terms of new technology, but the messages that might be carried through them? Knowledge is power, and the United States controls the amounts of knowledge provided via information technology in a similar way to how American plantation owners controlled their slaves; by not allowing them to learn how to read or write. This is on a parallel with the days of colonial and imperialist ways, which characterised the settling of the new world. At present, third world countries have no access to information, no money, and little or no aid from the west. In the domain of science fiction, one need only look to Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, and his voyage into “space, the final frontier, boldly going where no man has gone before...”. Captain Kirk is a space cowboy of capitalism, able to transcend time and space by teleporting himself to foreign lands...and dominating them. His spaceship, the Starship Enterprise, is an imperialist vessel searching for business ventures in outer space. We come in peace. Beam me up, Scotty.
Identity
At present, albeit the world of the physical cannot completely transcend time and space, people have begun to think in terms of a virtual existence. Science fiction acts as an imaginative lens through which the past becomes a new way of seeing potential outcomes of the future. In virtual reality, the concept of identity is usually concerned with the loss of the physical body, where the individual “jacks-in” and becomes part of the matrix. There was a utopian idealism that came with the advent of cyberspace. In the late 1990’s, the freedom that virtual reality was supposed to offer was the basis for many hollywood films of the time, such as David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. In this film, people jack into the game-world of eXistenZ through a “bio-port” located in the spine. Now that cyberspace is old hat, we must look deeper into the matrix, or cyberspace in order to discern what is really possible, and what is not. Science fiction, whether in the form of a modern film, or in the predictions of the ancient psychic, is part of our imagination. It has become part of the real, as life imitates art. It has its roots in the realm of the imaginary, as art imitates life. Kevin Roberts suggested that, “in cyberspace, there are possibilities for exploring the complexities of self identity, including the relation between mental space and the bodily Other. We are provided with a virtual laboratory for analysing the postmodern- and perhaps post-human- condition (1996: 81)”. In terms of cybercolonialism, the individual is in danger of being swallowed up inside the matrix of global capitalism. In reference to John Stratton’s essay , Cyberspace and the Globalisation of Culture, “[in Neuromancer] Gibson’s imagery is saturated through with...the loss of the body as a site of the construction of identity (1997: 721)”. This being said, if we lose ourselves inside the matrix, we not only lose our identity as individuals, but we also run the risk of being absorbed by the dominating presence of global capitalism.
Genetic Engineering and Science Fiction
The potentiality for the human experience to be further homogenised, deterritorialized and mediated is always there. There is also the threat of technology going wrong, which must be addressed here. In Ridley Scott’s ground breaking film Blade Runner, the world has become a sort of dystopic Disneyland, with Mr. Tyrell (Walt Disney incarnate) embodying the role of leader, GOD and CEO all in one. Tyrell heads the Tyrell Corporation, which produces androids that are almost human. These “replicants” symbolise the fear that human beings are not really purely organic, but something else. Deckard, the lead character, is actually a replicant himself, and doesn’t know it. When Blade Runner debuted in 1982, there wasn’t much public awareness of the potential for biological replication in reality. In 1997, Dolly the sheep was born and became the first mammal ever to be cloned from a single genetic cell. Jack Boozer Jr., when discussing Jean Baudrillard’s book Simulations, states that, “in this case, genetic human replication serves literally to undermine definitions of the natural and the real, and signals the loss of any subjective autonomy whatsoever (1991: 217)”. When the film Soylent Green debuted in 1973, there was no awareness of genetic modification of food. In this film, it is another scenario of a not-so-distant future where there is a huge over-population problem and no natural food to eat. Foodstuffs are made in a factory, and the name of it is “soylent green”. At the end of the film, the protagonist finds out that the secret, nutritional ingredient in soylent green is actually the reprocessed proteins of dead humans. As the saying goes, you are what you eat. Today, the west has become obsessed with “better” foods, using terms such as “organic” to reassure people that what they eat is fresh and natural. I would like to argue that regardless of how pure this food might be, it is still typically only available through a monopoly of supermarket chains. Capitalism infiltrates every facet of life in the western world, and leaves no choices outside its gates of freedom.
Conclusion
Science fiction shows us some of the potential horrors of what is to come for humanity, and technology is often seen as a negative force over which we would have no control. Knowledge is essential, and information is too general a term for what should be accessible to all people, everywhere. It is arguable that the gap of intelligence could inherently lessen as well, and there is nothing to fear in regard to what will happen as capitalism flows through the tangled branches of the information superhighway. Kevin Robins states, “the mythology of cyberspace is preferred over its sociology. I have argued that it is time to re-locate virtual culture in the real world (the real world that virtual culturalists, seduced by their own metaphors, pronounce dead or dying) (1996: 92) ”. Perhaps Robins is correct in his argument for a re-localization of virtual culture. The nature of globalization and of cybercolonialism is one of deterrtiorialization, or as Jon Stratton puts it, “electronic hyper-deterritorialization...as a spatial fix..(1997: 724)”. The fact is that, metaphor or no metaphor, as the socius becomes deterritorialized, it will inevitably have to go through a process of re-absorption, mediated by the governing economic power. This is potentially a very dangerous thing, as people could become more and more decentralized, and forced to become submissive or complacent under an omnipresent, capitalist machine. There is no way of knowing what will happen for certain in terms of the cybercolonialization of the world, but discourse is fundamental. Science fiction provides a creative way of seeing ourselves, and a fascinating form of dialogue, mythical or factual.
Epilogue
A tribe of ancient beings, half man, half ape, stand in bewilderment around a black obelisk. Buried in the sand, standing erect in a barren, bleak landscape, this thing has simply appeared without warning or introduction. This obelisk is a strange, new spectacle which has appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It has no apparent function, no explanation. The primitive creatures who discover it do not know what it is, or why it is there. At its first appearance, they merely stand in awe of this new paradox. Dumbfounded, they are introduced to a new structure inside their own time, the form of an object unlike anything they have ever seen or dreamed of before. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: a space odyssey begins in this way. It is the scene of an imagined, Darwinian-esque landscape of early man, but with a twist. An undeniably unnatural, alien object has appeared. It is modern in all its dimensions, and seems to have no life in it. Its arbitrary appearance is at once infuriating, horrific, and exciting. Many who have viewed this scene for the first time have spoken of being confused by its repose, and at the same time intrigued by its ominous appearance. It is something we have encountered before. It is the shock of the new, but it is an old a figure as any in memory itself. In present day reality, another obelisk lies buried in the pocket of most modern day western humans, ringing. It has the same shape as this fictional obelisk. It is minute, compact, and for all intents and purposes inanimate. Just like the high frequencies which emit messages from Kubrick and Clarke’s obelisk, it rings, asking to be answered. It has a message, and a drive of its own. The future has met with the past.
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