Literary Speculation

This week I read He, She and It by Marge Piercy. This novel sort of reminded me of
Frankenstein in a way.  The concept of this story is based around science converting to
rebirth of life. The central theme of Piercy's novel is that science, though necessary and
intellectually stimulating, is not the savior of humanity. The status of the world in 2059 is
clearly due, in large part, to the scientific advances of humanity. The scientifically provoked
"cyber-riots" occurred throughout the world as a response of fear that technology would replace
humans. The sweeping environmental disasters could not be averted by scientifically informed
"eco-police." Not only could science not avert the Two Week War, but it actually had enabled
the terrorist act which started this "conflagration of biological, chemical and nuclear
weapons that had set the oil fields aflame and destroyed the entire region". A secondary,
and yet equally important theme of this novel is that the distinction of human personhood
is sufficiently plastic that it may soon disappear. Not only does the sixteenth century Maharal
struggle with this idea, but today the increasing blend of mechanical and biological
components in medicine threatens to demolish any distinctions based solely on physical metrics.
Not only does humanity no longer inhabit an exalted place in the Piercy's universe, but it
is finally defined out of existence.