Cat's Cradle Summary

In Cat's Cradle, the author Kurt Vonnegut talks about religion. The main religion written about was Bokononism. Bokononism is established by the government of San Lorenzo to make the people forget about their underprivileged quality of lives. Vonnegut's novel sees ordinary people become deified and manipulated to become spokespeople for some greater human force. Vonnegut expresses his distrust of technology, opposition to religion and fear of a rapidly evolving society. The theme in Vonnegut's novel is that humankind needs to move away from having a dependence on technology. Vonnegut's novel is like a plan for what we shouldn't let happen. It is felt that a machine is run in America and the result when people recognize their own lives and that machines do not control them. Once people begin realizing they are alive and not mechanical, change will occur. Vonnegut's solution to the rapid movement towards mass programming is that we rely more on each other than relying on technology.
When a scientist
mentioned to Felix that the atomic bomb was the first meeting of science and sin, he responded, "What is sin?" This response shows Felix's relative moral purity; as a scientist, Felix has never faced or assumed the concept of morality. Meanwhile, his research had moral consequences. The creation of the atomic bomb, while a huge development for science, was also a moral danger because it dramatically increased the scale of damage that a nation could cause on another in a short period of time. Felix's lack of moral responsibility creates a scary representation of scientists who not only express the vague qualities of the inventor but who also work with minimal concern for human life. This lack of concern for the difficulty of others is compared, to a lesser level, in the lives of Newt and Frank. Frank shows no concern for the bugs that he is fighting against each other when Newt finds him outside, and he instead focuses on his interest in the game of making them fight. Also Newt, in his letter to Jonah, briefly comments on two girls who committed suicide by jumping into a gorge. He seems uninterested in their death except to relate the surprising fact that they committed suicide because they did not get into the sorority (another granfalloon) they had wanted to enter. There is no sense of sorrow or remorse for these individuals. The unfeeling, unjust lack of concern for other members of humanity will be a repeated theme in this novel.
The role of technology stood out in the film, Dr. Strangelove. Although these men were supposed to be our “smart leaders”, even they couldn’t figure out a way to beat the very machines and methods they had created. As Dr. Strangelove put it, they had figured out ways to “rule out human snooping.” In a less comical way of viewing this part of the film, it illustrates that our society doesn’t have a set understanding over the technologies that we depend on for safety.
General Ripper portrays the judgment we are able to make over time. In this type of society, it is easy to see how something as precious as the technology might be used as a weapon. It is in this mental warfare; this eye of suspicion, that the cold war truly took shape and made a mark on society. There were no battles directly between the US and the USSR; rather, the distrust and constant race to stay above the other side technologically became overwhelming. The unpredictable behavior and decidedly dangerous decisions made showed the effect the Cold War had on people, even if fear of technology was only imagined. The fear of nuclear damage after World War II created an atmosphere of doubt, with everyone prepared and waiting for the “bomb” to drop. The matter of nuclear war was and still is a serious one; however, Dr. Strangelove made it a rather carefree one, leaning far away from reality and more towards the strange and humorous. The film was not taken seriously because no one wanted to acknowledge the fact that they could live in such doubt and helplessness, even the politicians, who we as Americans put our trust in, were powerless. Also, in spite of the very tragic end of the movie, there was a sense of hopefulness with “We’ll Meet Again” playing in the background as the bomb went off.
In the movie, Dr. Strangelove, there are some flawless technologies and some extremely flawed technologies. The technologies that fail always seem to be the ones that need humans to operate them. Human imperfection is the reason for the failure of many of the machines when they are needed the most: Mandrake doesn't have enough change to place a call to the president, and the men who were sent to get Jack D. Ripper on the phone blew out the phone lines in the gun fire. The technologies that fail are mainly communication based, showing that the country, or the world's inability to communicate is what eventually will cause its destruction, along with nuclear weapons. While these technologies fail, others succeed flawlessly. The doomsday device is set off. This device was created by humans but functions completely on it's own, eliminating the possibility of human error. No hero can come to the rescue and disarm the bomb because it was created to be completely free of humans. The one technology that requires humans to use it and does work is the hydrogen bomb. Even with this example there is a lack of communication as Major King Kong is dropped with the bomb. He is well trained and able to open the doors without communication or help from anyone else, he’s not a quick as the machines. The use of technology in this movie gets to the point that technology and a lack of communication in war, or war in general, leads to unnecessary deaths and mass destruction.
Jonathan Lethem's As She Climbed Across the Table is a novel of fascination and nonexistence built around the world of academics and abstract science.
Philip Engstrand is an academic whose study is other academics. Tightly set up at Beauchamp University in Northern California, he falls in love with Alice Coombs, a subdivision physicist. Coombs is part of Dr. Soft's team, trying to create a "pocket universe" by replicating the Big Bang on a mini scale. The experiment fails, but in a interesting way. Instead of disappearing, the field steadies into a valued sort of black hole. It's a window that sits in the center a large table. Some things pass through the window and disappear. Some things simply pass through the window to the other side of the table. The choice seems random. It's a mystery, which contributes to its name, The Lack. In time, Alice becomes obsessed with the Lack, Philip becomes unreasonably obsessed with Alice, and a fight for the Lack becomes
intense.
Philip, the narrator of the novel is funny, obtuse and very clever. He charms his way into the program and joins in the media feeding frenzy that grows to surround the Lack. Alice draws away from Philip and towards the Lack. Philip's behavior becomes ever more obsessive and unreasonable, even as the reader witnesses his perfectly logical reasons for engaging in such behavior. Never has self-delusion been conveyed with such crystal clarity. Lethem setup is so smart that he can speak openly of the nature of obsession and self-doubt; their very definition becomes a basic part of the plot, thanks to the Lack. Lethem plays with the reader's kindnesses by pushing the idea that emotional and scientific reliability are always worthy. As a "soft" scientist surrounded by hardheaded physicists, Philip does manage to keep his mind on science, but also is more interested in Alice. He's not about to bow down to their authority. But he crumbles before the fact that he is in love with Alice. Paradoxically, one of the true likings of this novel is the skillful way Lethem brings to the physics aspect of the novel. He expresses it with such clarity that even people who don’t like science will understand. The story binds together a number of opposites, deep thoughts about human feelings and abstract theory about the nature of reality. Lethem uses a form of a romantic comedy to discuss the heaviest subjects. It works incredibly well, bringing light to the assumptions and depth to the romance. Lethem provides an interesting search of the scientific and emotional effects of what Phillip and Alice discover.
Emotionally withdrawn Joel and uncontrolled free spirit Clementine start up a relationship on railroad train from New York. They are almost immediately attracted to each other despite their completely different personalities. Although they do not realize it at the time, Joel and Clementine are in fact former lovers. After a fight, Clementine hired the firm Lacuna, Inc. to erase all her memories of their relationship. Upon learning this, Joel is upset and decides to have the same procedure himself. The way this process works is when a person is asleep. Majority of the film takes place in Joel's mind. As his memories are erased, he tries to avoid erasing all the memories of Clementine by hiding her in isolated parts of his unconscious. Despite his efforts, the memories are slowly erased, with the last memory of Clementine telling him, "Meet me in Montauk."
In separate but related story are revealed during Joel's memory removal, the employees of Lacuna are exposed to be more than minor characters. Patrick, one of the operators performing the procedure, is dating Clementine while seeing Joel's memories, and copying parts of their relationship in order to seduce her. Joel and Clementine come upon their Lacuna records shortly after meeting each other on the train. They react with shock and confusion, given that they have no clear memory of having known each other, let alone having had a relationship and having had their memories erased. Joel asks Clementine to start over, but she originally says no because she believes it could just end u the same way. Joel understands this but toward the end they decide to try having a relationship anyway despite Clementine’s original doubts.