Multiverse and Language-Babel 17

There are two things about this genre and the novel this week, 'Babel 17', I would like to discuss. First is the main theme in this novel, language, and the second is the genetic manipulation and the characters in the novel.

On the first, not only is language everything this book is about, but this seems to be a common theme in cyber-tek stories as well, such as the following week's novel, 'Snow Crash'. Language and as we find in the book, body language as well, is very powerful, more then people would initially believe. The main character, Rydra, appears to be telepathic, but in truth she is just incredibly fast and accurate at reading people's body language. This was very fascinating to me, because my mom, who studied psychology, has taught me about reading body language and interrupting and analyzing my interactions with others and other people in general. In the beginning of the novel, Rydra explains to her psychologist every little movement and exactly what it meant, down to amazingly subtle things, that all turned out to be accurate. Spoken language is also important, in the novel this new language can even betray your previous beliefs. This I believe is true now more then ever in today's society. I'm taking an Environmental Ethics class and the main thing we've been learning is that we more then often unknowingly do things against our beliefs everyday. We buy and use products from companies who practice things against our beliefs, we ignorantly support them. Language, used ignorantly and blindly, will turn against us, we will betray our own beliefs if we use it without knowing it's true meaning. This I believe is the lesson and concept that Babel 17 teaches. 'Snow Crash' uses similar techniques, even though it is cyberpunk, language plays a key role in power control, which some take advantage of. In both novels the hero must learn to control this language and stop it's spreading corruption before it completely controls them.

The second part to Babel 17, is the genetic manipulation, which is growing even in today's society. I found it very interesting when the novel described each character, no one seemed boring. I believe that's what really driving people in today's world to want to be more then what they are now. They want to be interesting, perfect even, or imperfect to stand out. We start with different colored hair, piercings, tattoos, and then escalate to bionic parts like organs or limbs, then we'll get to bionic organs like eye enhancements, mechanical parts that interact with other machines (like computer chips that open doors for us when we walk near them), and so on. The genetic manipulation doesn't have to be negative, in the book it was so cool to imagine the different characters and their fantastic enhancements. It all depends on the direction society heads with the manipulation, hopefully we won't ever get to a point where we are pretty much ordering children from a catalog where we can mix and match desired traits.