I like the point you describe of the relationships of trust found in the story. However, the trust between each of these people was not always there. Think of Alana’s first interaction with Marko, Marko’s parents’ first interaction with Marko, Alana, Isabel, and Hazel, and think of Gwendolyn’s first interaction with The Will. Alana bashes Marko’s face in, Marko’s parents’ zap Isabel to a planet that is about to hatch, and Gwendolyn has no trust that The Will will get the job done. All these relationships must develop the trust; it isn’t instantaneous.

To play with this theme of entanglement more, love is woven into situations in even greater detail. The Will, through his act of saving Lying Cat, shows his love, not only for his partner, but his love for the truth. He understands how necessary that it is for Lying Cat to be there. Another example is the changing of love throughout the story. In the beginning, both Alana and Marko had love for their own race and hate for the other. Marko’s parents love for their planet was passed down. Now, the love has shifted from each specific race to the symbol of love that is Hazel.

To play with this theme of entanglement more, love is woven into situations in even greater detail. The Will, through his act of saving Lying Cat, shows his love, not only for his partner, but his love for the truth. He understands how necessary that it is for Lying Cat to be there. Another example is the changing of love throughout the story. In the beginning, both Alana and Marko had love for their own race and hate for the other. Marko’s parents love for their planet was passed down. Now, the love has shifted from each specific race to the symbol of love that is Hazel.

Your point about quantum entanglement is a really good topic to bring up. Today’s discussion about the Butterfly effect fits perfectly with this definition. It states that one particles quantum state displays the states of other particles. All the particles are interrelated to one another. By looking at one factor, many outcomes are visible. That being said, many factors can create many overlapping outcomes. Multiple factors can affect one outcome. This helps to understand the multiple causes to one effect and the multiple effects to one cause. This duplicity of the cause effect system leads to massive entanglement.

I like your points talking about the Butterfly effect, but to take it a step farther, each and every person’s actions are a result of the influences of their education, experience, and influences. With each and every decision a person makes, they subconsciously look through what they have experienced with a certain choice. Just asking a person what they want for lunch shows it. They won’t want pizza because the first time they had pizza it gave them food poisoning. They wont want subs because they had subs everyday for lunch in school and are tired of them. Everything has an effect on something or someone.

I think it is a very interesting point in which you bring up that the Oankali do not respect the humans. I feel there are instances in which one or two of the ooloi do not look with respect on them, like Kahguymut. But, the Oankali need the humans to survive. They need to reproduce and be joined with a human pair. They are fascinated with the amount death and life in the same body. I agree that the Oankali do have a superiority complex towards the humans, but I also agree that they do respect the humans, if not by logic, than by genetic make up.

I like the reference to Lord of the Flies, but I have interesting view on your thought about “survival of the fittest.” There are a couple people who could represent the fittest throughout Dawn. The most genetically advanced people are Lilith and Joseph by far. They were both able to regenerate quickly and Lilith had incredible strength. However, it was this difference that got Joseph killed by one of the least fit people, Curt. His resistance to change caused him to kill Joseph in an animalistic rage. This could show some use to the primitive kill or be killed attitude.

Going off of this point about fitting in with another culture, I do not believe that Lilith or the others are trying to fit in Oankali culture, but rather trying to escape it. Lilith has accepted modifications from them to better teach others how to escape. In comparison to refugees, they want to better themselves so they may become successful in the new country. They do this by assimilation and developing relationships. The whole goal of the humans in Dawn is to escape the Oankali, not become them.

In this blog, the corruptness of Chimeracorp is clearly shown and stated. However, the decency of Humonics is not developed to its full value. Transhuman is trying to develop a contrast between the two in today’s time. Yes, as you have shown and proven, there is a lot of corruption and greed in companies. However, the book and companies today show a different side. Humonics develops a feasible tool that is free from the beginning and inexpensive to update later on. They are still able to create a big product, but it is available to everyone. This is shown in today’s society through organizations such as Doctors Without Borders. They travel to third world countries and provide inexpensive or free medical treatment to people who have none available. There are always two sides to a coin.

I like the interesting point you brought up about being alone even while you are with others. Even while Lilith is with humans, she is completely alone. Everyone, even Joseph at the beginning, feels estranged from her. She has connections with a few, but has been modified and is different from the remaining population. In this instance, suicide is not the only killer that is a threat to Lilith, but her difference and isolation has created a target on her forehead. Relationships, as seen in Dawn, can also be a killer.

Going off the themes of selfishness and self-interest, I believe they are formed in the view of each company. Chimeracorp definitely is going after the money, while Humonics, from the beginning, has been working to develop something revolutionary for the human species. This is shown in the leaders and the products of each company. Chimeracorp is ran by people who wanted to succeed no matter what: the CEO is extremely strict and the venture capitalist is just after the money. Their product, while revolutionary, is the changing of individuals, and at a risk to their own life. The leaders of Humonics decided they didn’t need to be a part of the company anymore and wanted to open specific advances to all of humanity.

I do see how technology has begun to take over how humans communicate. It is visible at restaurants how many people stay on their cellphones throughout the meal even with family. However, technology has still adapted to the way humans generally communicate. Facetime and Skype imitate face to face conversation and help to bring a in person conversation to people who may be across the country from one another or on a different continent. However, as generations become increasingly attached to technology, I feel these interactions will too fade.

I like your ideas of how transhumanism is seen through everyday life, but in more every day items I recognize transhumanistic values. Most people in the world carry around cellphones all the time. This has changed an aspect of who they are. Cellphones have increased the ability to communicate with others around the world from a devise that fits in our pocket. With many people, you could say they are “attached” to their phone, making it another part of their body. Another example would be medicine. We modify our bodies every time we take an ibuprofen or even drinking coffee. We modify our bodies on a daily basis with common substances available to us.

With your description of humanity, you name how, inherently, a human is part animal and part machine each with their own effects. But how does Sarasti fit into this statement? As a vampire, he is a genetically modified human with many different characteristics that I feel go with your definition of human. He has an IQ with up to four places, therefore qualifying him as a very high functioning machine, but also has the extreme in the animal instinct. He craves flesh and is described to struggle with the hunger due to being surrounded by humans. Vampires, then, describe the extreme concepts of what it is to be human.

Your idea of the eyes describing the soul of each of the characters is a cool aspect to view the story. While I was reading your blog, I began to think, “What about the aliens?” As the story has told, the aliens are known to have many, many eyes all over their body to help with identifying objects and possible threats. Diving deeper, the amount of eyes degrades the value of them for the alien. As humans (or vampires), the rest of the crew has only two, making them valuable windows to the soul, but the aliens have many which reflect nothing, but their ability to detect. This, in part, shows their functionality, but shows emptiness inside.