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The Importance of Dreaming
by: Jennifer Vitry
CHARACTERS:
FIRST ACT
Scene: The year is 2200. Motions Hearing before the Planet Counsel regarding the future of Science Fiction Literature.
Panel President: Good Morning everyone. This morning we will hear opposing argument by Ms. Carr, correct?
Ms. Carr: Yes President Planet.
Panel President: Very well.. you are here opposing the Association of Small Minded Toads’ petition to ban Science Fiction novels. Have you brought testimony of others to be heard...
Ms. Carr: Yes.. I have.
Panel President: Please.. sometime before lunch then..
Ms Carr: Certainly. Panel members, I am before you to challenge the notion that Science Fiction Literature should be banned due to its allegedly distracting and aimless characteristics.
I call Secretary to the Association of Small Minded Toads.
Hello Mr. Locke
Mr. Locke: Good Mornin’.
Ms. Carr: Can you state your name for the panel?
Mr. Locke: Well, [adjusting glasses, correcting his posture] my name is Benjamin Theodore Locke, III and I am, as you said, Secretary to the Minded–
Ms. Carr: I’m sorry - the minded?
Mr. Locke: Yes, we call it acute attendance...
Ms. Carr: Meaning –
Mr. Locke: The awareness of actual visible tangible elements and their place and/ or reaction in society.. these are the elements of society that we concern our selves with.
Ms. Carr: I see..
Mr. Locke: And, well, with all of the aesthetic characteristics of life being the center of discussion.. well, we find the our society is falling just a little behind in the reasoning.
Ms. Carr: Behind? Behind whom?
Mr. Locke: Behind where we SHOULD be as a logical society.
Mr. Carr: Okay, okay. We are gettin’ ahead of ourselves –
Do you understand exactly what you are attempting to ban?
Mr. Locke: No. And that is exactly our point. We should not all be Anxious for to Shine in the Aesthetic Line. "The Costume chaste –
Is but a good taste, misplaced."
Ms. Carr: Where should it be placed – our concentration that is?
Mr. Locke: We should "sit down in a quiet ignorance of those things which, upon examination, are found to be beyond the reach of our capacities... our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct."
Ms. Carr: And you find science fiction concepts to be beyond our reach?
Mr. Locke: Yes!
Ms. Carr: And such concepts do not address our conduct?
Mr. Locke: Not directly.
Ms. Carr: And are therefore of no use to us?
Mr. Locke: Correct.
Ms. Carr: Well, thank you Mr. Locke for clarifying your position.
Mr. Locke: Thank you. [stepping down]
Panel President: Ms. Carr, we are not here for the Association’s position. They submitted their briefs on the merits. Do you have any Opposing views–
Ms. Carr: Yes, President Planet.
I call Dr. Gene Splice.
Dr. Splice: [Takes seat before counsel.]
[Yawning.]
I have a very important experiment being conducted at this very moment which I am– or should I say– would be supervising IF I wasn’t summoned to your little academic party.
Ms. Carr: What is an experiment Mr. Splice?
Dr. Splice: Mr. Webster could be testifying if all you need is a definition.
Ms. Carr: Humor me.
Dr. Splice: Fine [reluctantly]. An experiment is a test to examine the validity of a hypothesis – or something not known yet.
Ms. Carr: Not known yet?
Dr. Splice: Yes, something we have no practical understanding of thus far.
Ms. Carr: Oh, I see. So you find, as a scientist, that it is important to examine those things which we don’t understand or have any knowledge of?
Dr. Splice: Well, how else would one attain knowledge without experiment or exploration?
Ms. Carr: Would you consider science fiction literature explorative?
Dr. Splice: Absolutely. Moreover, it often encompasses good guidelines for the particular exploration at hand.
Ms. Carr: For instance?
Dr. Splice: Well, I, Robot by Asimov–
Ms. Carr: What about it?
Dr. Splice: Think of the "laws of robotics" creating the non-threatening superior to humans. When creating a robot, we implant the inability to cause harm to a human or even to allow harm to occur –
Ms. Carr: Yes, but as Phillip Dick exemplified in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, robots with concerns can develop into self-serving identities.
Dr. Splice: Which is just two distinct ways of addressing the possibilities of human-like androids, or robots. This is what is essential. Sci fi novels speculate which help us prepare better for future experiments, which brings us back to knowledge and enhancement... one way or another.
May I go now?
Ms. Carr: Certainly Doctor. Thank you for your time.
Panel President: Next Ms. Carr... and can we speed it up a little.
Ms. Carr: Sure. Next I call Aristotle.
Panel President: You can’t. He’s dead.
Ms. Carr: Yes, of course, so I have a medium here with us [turning] Ms. Sybil Girbran. [Ms. Girbran approaches panel. Prior to sitting, she circles the chair clockwise, turns and circles counter-clockwise. Sits].
Ms. Carr: Well, okay. All set?
Ms. Girbran: [glances tirelessly].
Ms. Carr: So you are a medium–
Ms. Girbran: A channeler, if you will.
Ms. Carr: Fine, fine.
Ms. Girbran: Usually, I’d prefer some candles and dim lighting – but this’ll do.
Ms. Carr: We need Aristotle if he’s not busy.
Ms. Girbran: Okay, I’ll try. But I need complete silence and only you are to question me. And only one question is allowed. Understand?
Ms. Carr: [Nodding].
Aristotle: [Leans head back with eyes closed. Shakes quietly. Returns head upright].
[In masculine voice:]
And WHAT is so urgent that you would trap me back in the physical suit?
Ms. Carr: Sir, do we gain knowledge from fictional adventures which encounter alien beings?
Aristotle: Well, "there is a science that studies being as being and the properties characteristic of it." Metaphysics. "It is not the same as any one of the so-called special sciences, for none of the others deals with being GENERALLY as Being. They cut off a piece of it and study the character of that piece, as, for instance, the mathematical sciences do." With Metaphysics, we are attempting to study being absent absolute structure. So, yes, we gain a knowledge of being by disregarding like features, that of another human body.
Ms. Carr: Well do you think –
Ms. Girbran: [Head leans back, eyes closed. Returns upright}
Ms. Girbran: I told you, one question only. [leaves seat]
Panel President: Who would you like to call next? God perhaps?
Ms. Carr: Why no, of course, I call Watchman Nee.
Mr. Nee: [Takes seat before panel].
Ms. Carr: Mr. Nee, Mr. Locke feels that we should make our business only about the tangible, proven realities amongst us. He feels this will contribute to a growing community. How do you feel?
Mr. Nee: "The opposite of sight and feeling is faith. Now, it is the [stagnant] person who gains assurance by gasping the things which can be seen and felt; but the person who follows the spirit lives by faith, not by sight."
Ms. Carr: But are we to completely forget our physical selves?
Mr. Nee: "The angels are spirits; they have neither body nor soul. But we humans posses both. We are to be spiritual men and not spirits."
Ms. Carr: So, would you say science fiction literature assists in this effort to be a spiritual man?
Mr. Nee: Absolutely. Novels such as Solaris examine the inner man – his intuitions and the invisible reality one only confronts from within, hence developing the spirit.
Ms. Carr: Thank you Mr. Nee. You may go now.
Panel President: Anyone else?
Ms. Carr: Yes, President Planet, my last witness - Mr. Lite Hearted.
Mr. Hearted: [Remaining where he is:] Yep, that’s me.
Ms. Carr: Will you come up here please.
Mr. Hearted: Oh yeah, right. [approaching].
Ms. Carr: You sit right there.
Mr. Hearted: Oh, Okay.
Ms. Carr: What is that you have with you?
Mr. Hearted: Oh, this? It’s a towel.
Every good hitchhiker needs one ya know.
Ms. Carr: Hitchhiker?
Mr. Hearted: Yeah, for the "virtual impossibilities" of the galaxy.
[with pondering glaze:] But that would make them a "finite improbability" right?
Ms. Carr: Huh?
Mr. Hearted: "All I have to do to make one is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea.... and turn it on!!"
Ms. Carr: Tea?? What are you talking about?
Mr. Hearted: Probabilities my friend. Better yet – possibilities!
Ms. Carr: Thank you Mr. Hearted. You may leave now.
Mr. Hearted: [Steps down].
Panel President: Well, lets see Ms. Carr. To oppose this Motion to ban Science Fiction Literature you have called Mr. Locke who clarified your opponents position.
[Looking at notes:]
Uh.... Ms. Psychic.. whatever her name was. Then Mr. Nee, and who the hell was that last guy... Mr. Towel? I am very confused now...
Ms. Carr: Well, the matter before you is whether or not Science Fiction Lit effects the human condition. And by Mr. Locke’s, and tacitly, the Association’s standards, this would have to be something within our reach, which, once explored, would contribute to a logical society. Is it not?
Panel President: Yes, well, yes.
Ms. Carr: Well, as Dr. Splice – who I am sure you inadvertently left out – pointed out,
experiment and exploration are important avenues to discovery which lends knowledge, whether by warning us, preparing us or challenging us to find new things.
Logic can only be ascertained by a reasonable being. Aristotle mentioned the importance of studying being as an isolated existence. Science Fiction often attaches roles to foreign bodies, thus assembling an encounter with simply another "being". Not many genres of literature have an avenue to examine the inner man via the novel.
And often, to examine the unknown, one must begin with the unforseen. In disagreement with Mr. Locke, Mr. Nee stated that our business is to be spiritual men – functioning without sight to see. Finally, Mr. Hearted’s comments parody human nature’s way of interpreting the unfathomable in a logical/ illogical pattern.
Basically, Sci Fi offers a range of discovery for its reader. At times it examines present day scientific improbabilities, other times... aliens with three heads. Moreover, sometimes there is inner discovery lending reason to the intangibles: mind, spirit and human nature. Combined, we’d forfeit dreaming, and hence, discovering.
Panel President: Well,
[groups up with other members of panel.]
Panel President: Yes, we agree, Science Fiction Literature has merit.
THE END
Reference material:
1) "If You're Anxious for to Shine in the High Aesthetic Line" - W.S. Gilbert
2) John Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1690)
3) Aristotle: On Man and the Universe, Walter J. Blank, Inc. (Roslyn, N.Y. 1943), p. 15
4) Watchman Nee's The Spiritual Man; Christian Fellowhip Publishers, Inc. (N.Y. 1968); p. 30
5) Supra, page 31
6) Douglas Adams' The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, p. 87