Technology In The Left Hand Of Darkness

A strong first place to evaluate the past and future working in tandem in a piece of science fiction is that of the novel The Left Hand of Darkness. In the novel, two nations rule over the planet Gethen, Karhide and Orgoreyn, who both seem to embody two different ages of labor and production. In a way, Karhide represents the old labor, and Orgoreyn the "new" labor. This all starts to change when Karhide pushes to modernize, which becomes a major plot point of the book.

Karhide is observed by the main character to have a very old (by modern human standards) form of labor and production. Its labor is largely done manually, and resources are hauled from place to place. Technology is not very developed, and often the most developed ideas are transportation

It is seen as primitive and barbaric, while the One State has won the ultimate victory for all time in its enlightened efficiency. Unknown to the citizens of One State is a group of people, rebels in a sense, the Mephi, who seek to go back to nature and abandon the evils of technology and corporate idealism. Additionally, the Mephi seek to employ people like D-503 in an attempt to impede the One State's activities and ambitions. “The INTEGRAL [One State’s spaceship] must be ours…the builder of the INTEGRAL is with us” (Zamyatin 151). The Mephi are described as hairy and almost caveman-ish, drawing a direct parallel to the modern and industrial city One State rules

Made in the late 70s and mid 80s, there was a prevalent and strong corporate background to both. In Alien, the android Ash is the only "human" tie we have to the corporation Weyland-Yutani and its part in the alien attack. However, Weyland-Yutani is not present only in name in Aliens, a representative of the company accompanies the military and Ripley and serves as one of the main antagonists. The future embodied in the Alien franchise is a bleak one, especially for those workers under Weyland-Yutani like protagonist