Technology in Greg Bear's Blood Music

Technology in Greg Bear's Blood Music

Different genres of literature are particular responses to society; therefore, cyberpunk, as a genre, is a response to our contemporary society, known as the information age. One of the attributes given the genre is that it has an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic tone, warning the reader of the perils of technology, while at the same time celebrating the possibilities of technology, usually through a strong character in the novel. In Greg Bear's Blood Music, technology is seen as having a destructive and creative forces as it reshapes the world biologically, and incorporates every living thing, including a slow girl named Suzy, into the system. Blood Music demonstrates the perils and benefits in a world full of diverse technology, typical of the cyberpunk genre, responding to frightening and powerful possibilities in the secrets of technology which are just on the brink of discovery.

First, a demonstration of the kind of technology available today would lend to a better understanding of some of the biological possibilities. Already we can clone and manipulate individual genes. We can replicate DNA patterns and build proteins. Information is available at the touch of a button on the newest technology, so that it can be ingested by the younger generations just by browsing the Net. Also, the beginnings of nanotechnology, manipulating individual atoms to create new structures, is beginning to develop. James Graves wrote in a paper focused on the technological advances in our time, that nanotechnology, not too unlike the theories behind Vergil's experiments in Blood Music, would allow us to create tiny "organisms" that could show us more about ourselves, r...

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...ction is a particular response to society, and our society is in the information age, then it is incredibly appropriate to include Blood Music to the genre when we are making biological leaps and bounds today. Bear uses his characters to show that the effects may not be so bad for the individual, although technology will probably change the entire face of society as a whole. Perhaps someday cosmetic things will matter less, and we will be able to include a slow child into the ranks and make her feel whole, just like a part of each personal wants to feel at least normal, hopefully exceptional.

Works Cited

Bear, Greg. Blood Music. New York: Ace Books, 1996.

Graves, James C. "Technology and Its Effect on Society." Online. Purdue Lib. Internet. 9 October

1997.(http://nonotech.rutgers.edu/nanotech/papers/graves.hist).