57
Science Fiction
“There dwell an accursed people, full of pride and lust. There when a young man takes a maiden in marriage, they do not lie together, but each lies with a cunningly fashioned image of the other, made to move and to be warm by devilish arts, for real flesh will not please them, they are so dainty in their dreams of lust. Their real children they fabricate by vile art in a secret place.”
– That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis
Issue 57
December 9, 2017
The passage above from book three of Lewis’ science fiction trilogy, stripped of its vivid imagery, may yet bring some discomfort about the direction of our civilization. Consider:
First, marriage. From the polygamy of early Old Testament times on into modern times, there has been a movement toward lifelong and complete monogamy from which children are the blessed and treasured fruit. In recent times, however, especially, say, since WWII, that movement, however steady it may have seemed to us, has become more and more turbulent, roiled by changing sexual practices, changing social practices, economic needs, and political developments.
Second, there are appearing alternatives to the natural cycle of intercourse, birth, and death. Science and technology continuously experiment—with admirable intentions and beneficial results, of course, but with little ethical or moral guidance—with artificial life, artificial intelligence, gene modification, animal growth and development, limb and organ replacement, and chemical alteration and enhancement of various body functions.
Third, we are undergoing not just changing social and personal values, but the grounds for judging those values. Formerly authoritative imperatives guided behavior (loosely). Increasingly, however, we now make our choices by drawing upon values clarification, situational ethics, moral relativity and other decide-for-yourself bromides.
We know not the future, but our culture does not seem to be looking for alternatives to that mythical hideous vision.
