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The Future at Stake: Modes of Speculation in The Highest Frontier and Microbiology: An Evolving Science

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Posthuman Biopolitics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture ((PSSPC))

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Abstract

Colin Milburn examines the function of speculation as it bridges Slonczewski’s scientific and literary practices. Milburn explores two sites of Slonczewski’s work that illuminate how the study of science-fictional speculation can promote self-reflection about learning processes. Speculation shapes our modern world, galvanizing science and innovation. Science fiction, especially in Slonczewski’s handling, challenges the tendencies of high-tech culture to foreclose future options. The highest frontier—the edge of human territory and knowledge—orients the practices of speculation in relation to the political discourses and debates staged in that narrative. The Highest Frontier affirms a mode of speculation that opens to alterity as well as the cognitive qualities of science fiction as a narrative genre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of English, Science and Technology Studies, and Cinema and Digital Media, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Colin Milburn

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  1. Colin Milburn
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  1. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Bruce Clarke

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Milburn, C. (2020). The Future at Stake: Modes of Speculation in The Highest Frontier and Microbiology: An Evolving Science. In: Clarke, B. (eds) Posthuman Biopolitics. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36486-1_7

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