Departure_Body_Snatchers

8/7/2019 Departure_Body_Snatchers

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DepartureoftheBodySnatchers;or,

theConfessionsofaCarbonChauvinist

Our f rustra t ion a t the knowledge that weare mere ly morta l i s vast l y

intens i f ied by the knowledge that wehave c reated a technology

which , seeming ly omnipotent and immorta l i t se l f , has not extended

our on ly a l lot ted l i fe span muchbeyondthe b ib l i ca l threescore years

and ten . So we ident i fy unconsc ious ly w i th th i s technology which ,

be ing inan imate , cannot d ie . . . . We f ind reason to hope that . . .

a tomic or somest i l l more mag ica l power wi l l have enabled immorta l

technology to leave th i s p lanet beh ind for l imi t less interp lanetary

homes, and wesecret l y nour i sh the hope that wesha l l be amongthe

handfu l i t br ings w i th i t . In th i s rea lmof omnipotent fantasy , in fac t ,

mother Earth i s equ iva lent to a l l o f rea l i ty , which i s a drag and a

h indrance to our yearn ings for unfettered omnipotence, and wewant

to be r id of i t .

Haro ld F . Sear les , "Unconsc ious Processes in

Re la t ion to the Env i ronmenta l C r i s i s"

I

In The Inv is ib le Pyramid , an a lmost inhumanist medi ta t ion on

the evo lut ionary meaning of space exp lorat ion , the l a te

natura l i s t Loren E i se ley compares , in a d i sconcert ing ana logy ,

the h i s tory of humank ind to the growth of a s l imemold co lony .

A s l imemold , in order to reproduce, must scatter i t s spores

f romatop a "spore tower" that the whole deve lopment of th i s

s t range, compos i te organ i smstrugg les to bu i ld , and in the end

on ly a fewspores surv ive to beg in another co lony a f ter the i r

d i spers ion , as they growanother tower , spread more spores . . .

T imemay yet revea l , E i se ley suggests , that humanex i s tence on

Earth and our p lace in the natura l order of th ings resemble on a vast sca le the cyc le

of a s l imemold .

Spacek ind 's des i re to exp lore and eventua l l y to co lon i ze the cosmosmay be ,

E i se ley hypothes i zes , our response to a pr imord ia l urge wi th in us and not mere ly the

log i ca l cu lminat ion of our t remendous sc ient i f i c and technolog i ca l ach ievements .


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The Col lected Works of David Lavery 2

"Perhaps ," E i se ley suggests , "manhas evo lved as a c reature whose centr i fuga l

tendenc ies a re intendedto dr i ve i t as a b l i ght i s l i f ted and dr i ven outward across the

n ight" ( Inv is ib le Pyramid 54 ) . (The exp lanat ion of the source of th i s urge , E i se ley

l i ked to th ink , may l i e in the o ld theory of the Swedi sh chemist Arrhenius that l i fe on

Earth or ig inated f romspores fa l l ing f romouter space , the

des i re to l aunch into space then be ing the resu l t o f a long ing

to return home.)1

But " to c l imbthe f iery l adder that the spore bearers

have used," to reach that po int in our evo lut ionary ,

h i s tor i ca l , and technolog i ca l deve lopment whenspace t rave l

even becomesa poss ib i l i ty , i t has beennecessary , as E i se ley

reminds us , to f i r s t "consumethe resources of a wor ld ," to

becomewhat he ca l l s wor ld eaters , a l l i n order to hur l on ly a

fewspore ind iv idua l s into the reaches of space , where , as i s

the case wi th the s l imemolds , on ly a handfu l w i l l surv ive . H i story , E i se ley endeavors

to show, i s therefore an " inv i s ib le pyramid"ana l l consuming pro jec t , secret l y

ens laved to a monomaniaca l yearn ing : to construct the means for l eav ing the p lanet

Earth (63 , 76 ) .

" I have sa id [c i v i l i za t ion] i s born l i ke an an ima l , " E i se ley ponders , "and so , in

a sense , i t i s . But an an ima l i s whole . The secret t ides of i t s body ba lance and susta in

i t unt i l death . They draw i t to i t s dest iny . The great cu l tures , by contrast , have no

f ina l homeostat i c feedback l i ke that of the organ i sm. They appear to have no dest iny

un less i t i s that of the s l imemold ' s dest iny to spore and depart" (Inv is ib le Pyramid

132) . Such specu la t ions on the fa te of our spec ies lead E i se ley to ser ious

cons iderat ion of " the poss ib i l i ty that wedo not knowthe rea l nature of our k ind .

Perhaps Homosap iens , the wise , i s h imse l f on ly a mechani sm in a paras i t i c cyc le , an

instrument for the t ransference, u l t imate ly , o f a more invu lnerab le and heart less

vers ion of h imse l f" ( Inv is ib le Pyramid 54 55) .

"To what fa r c reature , whether of meta l or of f l esh ," man's departure into

space may be the br idge , wedo not yet know. But , as E i se ley observes ,

1Arrhen ius ' s idea , o f course , has been resurrected in Cr ick ' s concept ion of "d i rected

panspermia" and i s present as wel las Lya l l Watson observes in L i fe t ide : The B io logy of the

Unconsc iousin a "newmyth , born of Hoy le and Ca i rns Smith , te l l ing o f serpent ine s t rands

o f organ ic molecu les dr i f t ing downout o f in ters te l la r space to in fect , v i ta l i ze , and be

organ ized by the crysta l c lays o f Earth" (58) .


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i f such a be ing i s dest ined to come, there can be no assurance that i t w i l l

spare a thought for the menwho, in the humandawn, prepared i t s way . Man

i s part of that torrent ia l l i v ing r i ver , which , s ince the beg inn ing , has

inst inc t i ve ly knownthe va lue of d i spers ion , He wi l l yearn therefore to spread

beyondthe p lanet he nowthreatens to devour . Th i s thought pers i s ts and i s

g rowing . I t i s rooted in the psychology of man. ( Inv is ib le Pyramid 81 )

These words f i r s t appeared in 1970 , and c lear l y noth ing in the interven ing years has

d imin i shed the pers i s tence and growth of the idea .

I I

Should there be an oncoming se l f destruct ion for the spec ies , i t i s not unreasonable that unconsc ious warn ings would ex i s t . . . . In a

l andscape of po l lut ion and d i sease whenthe

roots themselves a re po i soned, the hea l thy

manmight beg in to prosper on the very

condi t ions which once had beennext to death

i t se l fhecou ld learn to l i ve on the

st imulat ions of the uprooted and the d i sp laced.

In morpholog i ca l terms, i t i s as i f the cancer

becomes the cont inuat ion , as i f l i fe l eaps a s tep and the anomaly

acqu i res the a rt o f reproduct ion .

NormanMai ler , Ofa F i re on theMoon

In our sc ience f i c t ions , soc ia l psycholog i st Ph i l ip S la ter has observed, " leaders

of a l i en c i v i l i za t ions . . . o f ten have mot ives that seemh i la r ious ly t r i v ia l , but the joke

i s on us s ince those fantas ies a re s imply pro jec t ions of our owncu l ture" (23) . The

mot ives of the a l iens in both f i lmvers ions of Invasionof theBodySnatchers (1956

and 1978) a re hard ly t r i v ia l o f course , for they a re wor ld conquerors on a vast and

ins id ious sca le . S t i l l , S l a ter ' s observat ion r ings t rue: as any member of Earthk ind

would recogni ze , these "Body Snatchers" a re our pro jec t ions ; they a re us . The i r

psychology i s our psychology .


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Orig ina l l y a 1950s B mov ie d i rec ted by DonS iege l , BodySnatchers ga ined a

cu l t fo l lowing dur ing the paranoid and consp i racy obsessed 1960s and was remade

or, ra ther , "cont inued," as i t s wr i ter and d i rec tor (W. D . R i chter and Ph i l ip Kaufman[ [ i c tured] ) have descr ibed i ttwenty twoyears l a ter . L i ke many remakes or

cont inuat ions , i t thus prov ides an interest ing mi rror in which to

observe bas i c changes in Amer i ca ' s myth ic se l f understanding as a

cu l ture .

In both f i lms myster ious pods , producedby p lants that grow

out of spores f romouter space , generate exact rep l i cas of human

be ings they a re p laced in contact w i th and, a f ter the c lon ing process

i s completed, rep lace the or ig ina l humanwi th a newly minted

c reature that , un l i ke the prototype, i s devoid of a l l emot ions , indeeda l l

persona l i tyis , in short , a pure automaton. These pass ion less newbe ings , we learn ,

a re untroubled c reatures , per fec t conformists , governedby c lear and d i s t inc t ideas ,

content w i th the i r lot in l i fe ; they a re , in fac t , in terchangeable ce l l s in a co l lec t i ve

organ i smsweeping the p lanet , in tent on ferret ing out and expos ing as imposters any

and a l l remain ing humans so that the "absorpt ion" (as they ca l l i t ) may f ina l l y be

complete .

A f ter absorpt ion , each then becomesa True Be l iever in Body Snatch ing ,

prose ly t i z ing to the st i l l ret i cent that there i s no need to res i s t . Once the in i t i a l

reac t ionary repugnance aga inst tota l loss of ind iv idua l i ty i s overcome, contentment ,

i t seems, i s the on ly s ide e f fec t . ( L i ke a neutron bomb, the invas ion leaves a l l

mater ia l possess ionsanda l l l i fe sty lesintact ; in the second f i lm, for example ,

yuppies cont inue to be yuppies , even a f ter absorpt ion . ) Even the eccentr i c and

outspokenpoet of the 1978 vers ion ( Jack Be l l i cec , p layed by Je f f Goldb lum) , who


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Amer icans can take the 1978 vers ion 's horr i f i c conc lus ion f l a t , whi le a l ess despa i r ing

c lose unnerved our 1950s counterparts . )

Before Suther land meets h i s owndemise , he d i scovers that the invas ion has

progressed s ince the 1950s to inc lude more than mere ly Ca l i forn ia (wehear of pods

be ing exported to Seatt le ) , more even than the Uni ted Sta tes : for a t San Franc i sco

harbor he f inds a huge f re ighter loadedwi th pods about to be exported overseas .

And there i s no FBI to ca l l to the rescue. Whenhe ear l ier t r ies to phoneWashington

to seek government he lp , he on ly conf i rms Jack Be l l i cec ' s post V ietnam, post

Watergate susp ic ion that " those guys" ( the FBI and the C IA) were the f i r s t to be

absorbed. For in Wash ington Suther land i s a l ready knownas subvers i veasan

enemyof Body Snatch ing . He i s a l ready on the "master l i s t . "

The 1978 f i lmmakes v i sua l l y apparent the or ig in of the wor ld conquerors

(on ly vague ly revea led in the or ig ina l ) , and th i s reve la t ion const i tutes another

important deve lopment in the morphogenes i s of the myth . The f i lmopens wi th a

myster ious c red i t sequence showing a dec imated wor ld f romwhich p lant l i ke

organ i smsre lease spores that f loat away into space toward a d i s tant , ta rgeted Earth .

(Dur ing the sequence, weac tua l l y seein sub jec t i ve camerafromthe spores ' po int

of v iew; wesee the Earth , weenter the a tmospherethe f i r s t ident i f i ab le ob jec t in

our v iew, interest ing ly enough, the TransAmer i ca Bu i ld ingandwep lummet to


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Earth . )3 I t i s f romthese spores , we are g i ven to understand, that the p lants (which

a re shown in the process of gestat ion , captured in t ime lapse photography) and la ter

the pods ac tua l l y sprout .

The " Invas ion of the Body Snatchers ," then, i s a deh i scence an

interp lanetary d i sseminat ion of seeds f roma doomedwor ld by a "wor ldeat ing ,"

"sporebear ing" formof l i fe . The a l iens ' ch ie f advocate in the f i lm, Dr . Dav id K ibner

(Leonard N imoy) , i s a psychobabbl ing , best se l l ing psycholog i st whob lends the worst

t ra i ts o f Weston in Outof theS i lentP lanet and Leo Buscag l i a (aga inst fears of

absorpt ion he counse l s hugg ing) . Accord ing to K ibner , the rea l funct ion of l i fe i s

brute surv iva l by any means poss ib le . Noth ing e l se matters : "Wecamehere f roma

dy ing wor ld ," he te l l s MatthewBennel l . "Weadapt and wesurv ive . The bus iness of

l i fe i s surv iva l . "4

3 I f the TransAmer ica Bu i ld ing i s , as Lewis Mumford has contended, the f i r s t human

ed i f ice constructed in exp l ic i t im ita t ion of a rocket on launch ing pad , i t i s in terest ing to

note that i t appears aga in and aga in throughout the f i lm, for wh ich i t serves as a k ind of

search image. In one memorab le shot , for example , i t s tands between Bennel l and Dr . Dav id

K ibner ( the actua l leader o f the consp iracy) , monumenta l , though in the depth of the f rame,

as K ibner seeks to reassure h is f r iend that there i s no need to worry . 4 The 1978 f i lm, not surpr is ing ly , conta ins many a l lus ions to the env i ronmenta l c r i s i s .

At one po int , for example , Nancy Be l l i cec comments that a re s i t t ing ducks for an invas ion

f romouter space (such as that o f the Body Snatchers ) because wea l ready l ive in such a

po l lu ted env i ronment that wewould never detect the i r presence . And E l i zabeth Dr isco l l

(Brooke Adams) conc ludes that the f lower ing p lants she has brought homeas an unwi l l ing

consp ira tor in the invas ion must be what her p lant ident i f i ca t ion book ca l l s a grex : " that ' s

when twod i f ferent spec ies c ross po l l inate and produce a th i rd , complete ly un ique one. . . .

Look howqu ick ly i t roots ! ' The ir character is t ic rap id and widespread growth pattern was

even observed in many the la rge , wartorn c i t ies o f Europe. Indeed, someof these p lants

may thr ive on devastated ground. ' " The Body Snatchers , we might say , a re a "cancer that

becomes the cont inuat ion ," an "anomaly [ that ] acqu ires the ar t o f reproduct ion ." But they


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Now i f the s tory of the Body Snatchers should be cont inuedyet aga in , say in

the year 2000 (a l lowing another twenty twoyear interva l for the p lot to evo lve ,

keep ing up wi th our chang ing , ever rev i s ionary sense of our earth ly dest iny and

cosmic ca l l ing) , th i s paranoid ta le w i l l no doubt undergo another morpholog i ca l

tw i st . Hav ing c rossed the l and and the sea , hav ing taken over the Earth , the a l iens '

co lon ia l i s t a ims wi l l no doubt cont inue wi th the load ing of pods on board a spacesh ip

bound for another not yet conquered, uneaten wor ld , depart ing aga in f roma

doomedp lanet thi s t imeour owndoomedprec i se ly because i t s ru l ing formof l i fe

was a l ready bound for the next not yet conquered wor ld . . . Someth ing about the

l i fe sty le of Body Snatchers , i t seems, i s not eco log i ca l l y sound; of necess i ty they

mustin order to fue l the next l eap and as an essent ia l premise in a concept of

dest iny that i s , i n rea l i ty , a vast , evo lut ionary , se l f fu l f i l l i ng prophecyabandon

the i r ephemera l phys i ca l bod ies and "consumethe resources of a wor ld ."

But perhaps , I have cometo th ink , in l i ght of my susp ic ions about the end of

humank ind, Invasionof theBodySnatchers (2000) w i l l not be "on ly a mov ie ." Perhaps

i t w i l l be h i s tory . by then, i f our ownp lanet despoi l ing cont inues a t i t s present pace ,

or a nuc lear ho locaust engu l fs us , Earth i t se l f may wel l becomethe deso la te , no

longer inhabi tab le p lanet f romwhich an endless migrat ion must commence. Perhaps ,

I have thought , Invasionof theBodySnatchers has succeeded in presc ient l y

chron ic l ing , w i th t rue myth ic power , the pre l iminary s tages of our ownunearth ing ;

perhaps on another wor ld , in other , extra terrestr ia l mov ie houses , inhumaneyes

watch s imi la r paranoid ta les , prophec ies of insterste l l a r invas ionof the coming of

the spores of Earth . (Asked to respondwi th the i r thoughts on the f i r s t moon land ing ,

J . G . Ba l l a rd , the noted Br i t i sh sc ience f i c t ion wr i ter , rep l ied , " I f I were a Mart ian I 'd

s ta rt running now," and fe l lownove l i s t Robert Shawsuggested that the proper

symbol i c image to put on a p laque commemorat ing the emergence of humani ty into

space would be "someth ing l i ke a grabbing hand, w i th i t s f ingers c lawed

into the Moon's so i l " (quoted in A ld i ss 286) .

My ownparanoia races aheadof ra t iona l i ty as I reca l l recent

specu la t ions that sound for a l l the wor ld l i ke preparatory

ra t iona l i za t ions for a future , d i sembodied d i sseminat ion . Has not Franc i s

C r i ck suggested that a l l l i fe on Earth or ig inated as the resu l t o f the

"d i rec ted panspermia" of a d i s tant , h igher , anc ient race? Has not

fee l r ight a t homeon Earth , as the second f i lm impl ies , " In a landscape of po l lu t ion and

d isease when the roots a re po isoned .


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Richard Dawkins ins i s ted in that our genes a re more rea l than weare , that weare

mere ly the i r temporary carr iers? Are not p lansinf in i te ly presumptuous p lans

be ing madeto inseminate the un iverse wi th the human? And i f Earth i s on ly a

temporary abode, a "nursery p lanet"asT imothy Leary i s nowfoundof ca l l ing i t

andthe humanbody a mere " technolog i ca l " inst rument for the gene 's surv iva l ( t rust

the DNA, Leary adv i ses : i t would not have t rappedour spec ies on th i s dy ing wor ld

"wi thout hav ing f i gured a way out" [15153 ; Leary ' s emphas i s ] ) . . . The handwr i t ing

on the wa l l seemsp la in .

Because I th ink these thoughts , I have cometo fee l l i ke the

McCarthy/Suther land character of Invasionof theBodySnatchers ,

but in reverse . Whi le the i r warn ing was an ins i s tent "They ' re

coming!" mine has instead become"They ' re go ing!" P lease

understand: I do not regret the i r departure ; I would , in fac t , we lcome

i t i fas Wendel l Berry has commentedthese technolog i ca l

romant i cs , these SporeBearers and Body Snatchers , would "depart abso lute ly f rom

a l l that they propose to supersede, never to return" (Standingby Words 60 ) .5But

because I deeply d i s t rust the i r t rue mot ives , I fear that in the i r des i re to f l y up to

the h igh f ront ier they may very wel l take Earth downwi th them. They are amongus

a l ready , I fear , urg ing our excarnat ion , seek ing to conv ince us that weshould not be

" t rapped in o ld concepts" l i ke the need for bodies and p lanetary homes. I have seen

them.

I I I

Th i s a f ternoon, in br ight sun l i ght , I sawa young

womanwa i t ing for a s t reetcar , accompanied by her

body .

Ren Magr i t te

5Berry ' s sent iment echoes that o f Dav id Brower , found and pres ident o f Fr iends o f

the EarthJohn McPhees archdru id" whosarcast ica l ly endorses space co lon izat ion in

S tewardBrands Space Co lon ies ( 415) : " I f Mr. O Ne i l l s co lon ie s , a fte r due energy

accountancy and rev iewof the env i ronmenta l impact s ta tement , prove more des i rab le than

the present a l ternat ive ," Brower wr i tes , "then let mebe the f i r s t to p lace reservat ions for

the f i r s t co lony , for a l l whowould cont inue the a tomsfor peace/war exper iment here . Let

a l l o f them, sa lesmanand customers , be aboard the ma iden voyage, abso lute ly f ree o f

charge , with a bonus i f they promise to away. And let the rest o f us s tay here ," he

conc ludes , "on th is poor o ld beaut i fu l p lanet , p lagued on ly by ourse lves , and t ry in good

heart to f ix i t .


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The Collected Works of David Lavery 10

I would have recogni zed the spec ies to which he be longedeven i f the

occas ion a t which wec lashed (as fe l lowpanel i s ts on a forum, he ld in a publ i c l ibrary ,

on "Computers , Robots , and You") and h i s nametag ( ident i fy ing h imas a computer

l anguage expert a t one of the major aeorospace f i rms in Huntsv i l l e , A labama) had

not a l ready revea led i t . The f ierce abstrac t ion of h i s eyes , someth ing in h i s

condescens ion to matter , h i s uneasy , care less inhab i ta t ion of h i s c lothes

t ree/tax i cab/bodyal l spoke, spoke loud ly : computer jock . But rea l l y that was h i s

subspec ies . He was , more spec i f i ca l l y , a Body Snatcher .

A humani t ies professor w i th a v i ta l in terest in sc ience and technology , a

profoundso l i c i tude for the evo lut ion and dest iny of our spec ies , and a growing ,

d i s turb ing ab i l i ty to ident i fy Body Snatchers in any d i sgu i se , I had been inv i ted to

part i c ipate in the gather ing to present an overv iewof sc ience f i c t ion ' s portraya l o f

computers and robots . Hav ing doneso , mov ing rap id ly in my a l lot ted ten minutes

f romCapek 's R.U.R . to Vonnegut ' s Player P iano , As imov 's " ru les of robot i c s , " and

2001: A Space Odyssey , I conc ludedmy remarks by read ing the c los ing words of NASA

sc ient i s t Robert Jast row's EnchantedLoom: Mind in theUniverse , a descr ipt ion of our

t rue evo lut ionary dest iny in the cosmosas he sees i t . I t was a passage whose

impl i ca t ions I for one foundabso lute ly terr i fy ing , for in i t l ay the ph i losophica l

g roundwork for exosomat i c evo lut ionfor Body Snatch ingasa prerequi s i te to our

future ever last ing , Faust ian pursu i t o f knowledge:

At l ast the humanbra in , ensconced in a computer , has been l iberated

f romthe weaknesses of morta l f l esh . [ Jast row i s here imag in ing

humani ty ' s future cosmic voyages . ] Connected to cameras , inst ruments

and eng ine contro l s , the bra in sees , fee l s , and responds to s t imul i . I t i s

in contro l o f i t s owndest iny . The machine i s i t s body ; i t i s the

machine 's mind. The un ion of mind and machine has c reated a new

formof ex i s tence , as wel l des igned for l i fe in the future as man i s

des igned for l i fe on the Afr i can savanna .

I t seemsto methat th i s must be the mature formof inte l l i gent l i fe in

the Universe . Housed in indestruct ib le l a t t i ces of s i l i con , and no longer

constra ined in the span of i t s years by the l i fe and death cyc le of a b io log i ca l

organ i sm, such a k ind of l i fe cou ld l i ve forever . I t would be the k ind of l i fe

that cou ld leave i t s parent p lanet to roamthe space betweenthe stars . Man


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as weknowh imwi l l never make that t r ip , for the passage takes a mi l l ion

years . But the a rt i f i c i a l bra in , sea led wi th in the protect i ve hu l l o f a s ta r sh ip ,

and nour i shed by e lec tr i c i ty co l lec ted f romstar l i ght , cou ld l ast a mi l l ion years

or more . For a bra in l i v ing in a computer , the voyage to another s ta r would

present no prob lems. (16667)

As expected, Jast row's words had the r ing of poetry and prophecy for many in

the aud ience , those ev ident ly weary of be ing " immature ." There was no need to

conv ince themthat theythat humani tyshould , in Jast row's sense , be born aga in ;

that they should , excarnated, ident i fy themselves w i th " immorta l technology" in th i s

"omnipotent fantasy" ( see the ep igraph f romSear les) .

Why , then, d id I fee l an unearth ly terror? Why d id Jastrowseemto meto be a

ra t iona l madman, an apolog i st for Body Snatch ing? Why d id such th ink ing seemto me

to demanda psychohi stor i ca l exp lanat ionl ink ing as i t does excarnat ion and space

exp lorat ion as i f the i rs were a marr iage made in heavenwhi le for many in the

aud ience i t seemedwel l n igh ax iomat i c? (Why now? Why in the West? Why in

Amer i ca? I wanted to ask of h i s tory . )

And the computer jock was the f i r s t to answer . " I guess you ' re just a Carbon

Chauv in i s t , " he suggested, goodnatured ly enough. He for one cou ld not wa i t to have

h i s consc iousness t rans la ted permanent ly to " indestruct ib le l a t t i ces of s i l i con." He

for one cou ld not be l ieve I was so o ld fash ioned, such a s t i ck in themud ("mutter , "

"matter , " "mother" ) as to want to remain incarnated, earthy .

I was , o f course , fami l i a r w i th the tendency (beg inn ing in the 1960s) to ca l l

anyone t rapped in o ld concepts ( the supremacy of the ma le , for example) a

"chauv in i s t . " I reca l led space co lon i zat ion guru Gera ld K . O 'Nei l l ' s descr ipt ion of

anyoneunwi l l ing to embark on, or a t l east to sanct ion , h i s ambi t ious p lans for

humank ind 's extra terrestr ia l i za t ion as a "P lanetary Chauv in i s t" (35) . I thought , too,

o f my own f requent use of the termspec ies chauv in i s t to descr ibe our k ind 's

reck less , naturebedamned, incestuous human i sm.

But th i s phrase was one I had not heard before in a l l the semant i c

d i sseminat ion of the or ig ina l concept , though I immediate ly rea l i zed what i t s user

meant by i t .6 In the back of my mind I heard the andro id in the f i r s t mov ie

6 I have on ly recent ly t racked downwhat may be the or ig in o f the term carbon

chauv in i sm. I have d iscovered that MIT ' s Joseph Weizenbaum,author o f Computer Power and

HumanReason, has l ikewise been ca l led a Carbon Chauv in is t , and was perhaps the f i r s t

rec ip ient o f the insu l t . When the Oxford Engl i sh D ic t ionary one day inc ludes the term, i t


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announc ing "V ' ger ' s" intent ion to exterminate the "carbonbased in festa t ion of the

Creator [Earth] ." I heard , aga in , Dav id K ibner in the most recent vers ion of Invas ion

of theBodySnatchers l ec tur ing a re luc tant tobeabsorbedcharacterst i l l f i ght ing

for h i s react ionary , carbonbased, earthy , humanva lues ; s t i l l be l iev ing in the

psychosomat i c ind iv iduat ion that comeswi th bodies , l i ved bodiesthat he must not

be " t rapped in o ld concepts ," must not fear l iberat ion f romthe "weakness of morta l

f l esh ."

I turned to look a t my accuserand fe l lowcarbonbased un i t ready to

reta l i a te . But no, I thought ; he ' s exosomat i c a l ready , thoughh i s namewas "Sk ip" and

he was dressed in a l e i sure su i t ; but he had every r i ght make such a charge , for he

was , a t l east , no hypocr i te . I accepted h i s a l l egat ionI have s ince , in fac t , become

proudof i tandcounterattacked. "Andyou," I rep l ied ( inc i s i ve ly , I fe l t , but fa r too

abstruse ly for the aud ience that even ing) , "a re a Cartes ian Body Snatcher ."

My wi t fe l l on deaf ears then. Perhapsl ike Dona ld Suther land in the l ast

image of the second Invas ionI should have countered not w i th a recondi te

inte l lec tua l barb but by leap ing to my feet , push ing away my podium, and expos ing

my adversary w i th a po int ing , accus ing f inger and moanl i ke sc reamof d i scovery ,

announc ing to a l l the presence of an a l ien in the i r midst . But who, I wondered, was

the a l ien now?

Though I fa i l ed then, in my c lose encounter w i th Sk ip , to expose and decry the

presence of the invaders (departers? ) amongus , I a sk nowthat you indu lge my

paranoia as I present the ev idence for my consp i racy theory in a more systemat i c

way . I f the fo l lowing pages a re d i smissed by someas persona l rav ings , no doubt i t i s

because they a re intendedto be a fu l l d i sc losuretheConfess ions of a Carbon

Chauv in i s t , i f you wi l l . Not mere ly autob iographica l , however , these confess ions a re

meant to be a psychohi stor i ca l and ph i losophica l medi ta t ion on the paradoxes of

humanembodiment , our "supremed i f f i cu l ty" (as Pasca l observed) , and our growing

unwi l l ingness in the Space Age to endure i t any longer .

IV

shou ld , I wou ld suggest , a t t r ibute i t s c reat ion to Car l Sagan , whoused i t in The Cosmic

Connect ion to re fer to the misconcept ion that "b io log ica l sys tems e lsewhere in the un iverse

wi l l be constructed out o f carbon compounds , as i s l i fe on th is p lanet" (47) . I do not know i f

my accuser was fami l ia r with Sagan ' s use o f the term, but c lear ly he meant someth ing very

d i f ferent , for he in tended the phrase to mean as d id Weizenbaum's nameca l lersthe

re luctance to env is ion an otherthancarbonbased form for presentday humanbe ings .


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Man i s to h imse l f the greatest prod igy in nature , for he

cannot conce ive what body i s , and st i l l l ess what mind i s ,

and least of a l l howa body can be jo ined to a mind. Th i s i s

h i s supremed i f f i cu l ty , and yet i t i s h i s very be ing . The

way in which minds a re a t tached to bodies i s beyond

man's understanding , and yet th i s i s what man i s .

B la i se Pasca l , Pensees

I had ca l led Sk ip "Cartes ian ," inef fec tua l l y but accurate ly , for Rene_ '

Descartestheunanimous ly ce lebrated " fa ther of modern ph i losophy"wasas wel l

the great progeni tor of a l l such Body Snatchers . At the heart of the famedCartes ian

method (and thus a t the heart of modern i ty ) , we f ind a s t ra teg i c d i s t rust of the body

and the senses , a systemat i c doubt of commonsense des igned to extr i ca te the

prec ious mind f roma l l those fa l se , bodydependent be l ie fsl ike the geocentr i c

p i c ture of the cosmosthat had occ luded the correc t , ob jec t i ve , sc ient i f i c Truth for

centur ies . In the wake of that Copern ican revo lut ion in thought that had generated a

newandpowerfu l skept i c i smabout earth ly t ruth and sent humank ind of f on a s t i l l

in progress quest for an Arch imedeanpoint f romwhich to observe a l l mundane

th ings w i th the detachment of a god l i ke , extra terrestr ia l be ing , Descartes sought to

bu i ld a newed i f i ce of knowledge on a f i rmbedrock of indubi tab le ideas . And the

"school of susp ic ion" (N ietzsche) to which h i s ph i losophy gave r i se in turn educated a

newk ind of be ing , Homofaber , manthe maker , d i s t rust fu l o f a l l that was not of h i s

ownmak ing , an inhabi tant of an inc reas ing ly mechanica l natura l wor ld ( for in

Descartes ' s thought a l l that was mere ly matter was mere ly mechanica l ) .

The humanmind, thought Descartes , must make i t se l f immuneto the

seduct ions of the "ev i l gen ius" of the wor ld , and the pr i ce ( read i l y pa id) for th i s

immunizat ion was den ia l o f the body , as he exp la ins in a famous passage f romthe

Medi ta t ions , a conc i se out l ine of h i s method:

I w i l l suppose not that God, who i s most goodand the

founta in of t ruth , but ra ther that someev i l gen ius , a t

once very powerfu l and cunning , has bent a l l h i s

e f forts to dece ive me. I w i l l suppose heaven, a i r ,

earth , co lors , shapes , sounds and everyth ing externa l

a re noth ing but the de lus ions of dreamsthat he has


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contr i ved to lure me into be l ie f . I w i l l cons ider myse l f not to have hands ,

eyes , f l esh , b lood, or any sense , but as fa l se ly th ink ing myse l f to have a l l

these th ings . I w i l l remain obst inate ly a t tached to th i s po int of v iew, and

thus , i f i ndeed i t i s not in my power to knowanyth ing of the t ruth , s t i l l , i n

v i r tue of a power I certa in ly do have, I w i l l reso lute ly guard aga inst assent ing

to fa l s i t i es and aga inst whatever th i s dece iver can employ to t r i ck me. (195 ;

my emphas i s )

Descartes knewvery wel l , o f course , that he had a body , a body that impregnated a

ma id , a body that l i ked to s tay in bed unt i l very l a te in the morn ing ( so that he might

" th ink ," he exp la ined, ra t iona l i z ing) , a body whose premature ly gray ing ha i r brought

h imto va in ly dreamof invent ing a correc t i veaseventeenth century Grec ian

Formula . But i t had becomemethodolog i ca l l y expedient for h imto imag ine that h i s

res cog i tans ( th ink ing substance) was more rea l , more pr imord ia l , because on ly i t

cou ld w i thstand the temptat ions of the ev i l gen ius .

But Descartes ' s ph i losophica l mot ives for adopt ing such a

methodmay have beena smokesc reen, intendedto obscure h i s

deeper , psycholog i ca l ones . As Stern has po inted out in TheF l ight

fromWoman , the French word dcu, which Descartes uses to

descr ibe the "decept ion" by which mater ia l th ings mis lead us ,

impl ies as wel l "d i sappointment ." Cartes ian i sm, Stern suggests , thus

represents a part i cu la r k ind of psych ic s tance before the th ings of

the wor ld : " i f we encountered Cartes ian i sm . . . a s a modeof

everyday exper ience of an 'ord inary man, ' mere ly in i t s psychology , as i t werewe

would f ind that the idea l o f the cog i to . . . means den ia l , a defense aga inst the f lesh

because the f lesh i s synonymous wi th angu i sh ; and the c lean f i ss ion betweenmind

and body i s an i so la t ion , a sett ingapart and render ing innocuous of a l l that spe l l s

dread" (100) .

Descartes ' s zea lous ra t iona l i ty , then, const i tutes the inab i l i ty to

accommodate onese l f to the supremed i f f i cu l ty of embodiment g i ven ph i losophica l

respectab i l i ty . Cartes ian i sm i s not just the pass ion for c lear and d i s t inc t ideas , but a

formof cogn i t i ve d i ssonance: an essent ia l repugnance for the ambigu i t ies of

embodiment , a dread of the weaknesses of morta l f l esh , becomea methodand g iven

a h i s tor i ca l dest iny . ( I t i s charac ter i s t i c o f the modern, as wehave a l ready seen, that

"methods becomementa l i t i es ." ) Nowonder , then, that whenGoethe f i r s t l earned of


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the Cartes ian stance in h i s youth , i t seemedto h imandh i s c lassmates "so grey ,

monstrous and death l i ke that wecou ld hard ly s tand i t ; we shuddered as though

fac ing a ghost" (quoted by Stern 86) . Humani ty in a Cartes ian wor ld has indeedcome

to seem, in G i lbert Ry le ' s famous phrase , a "ghost haunt ing a mach ine ," and thus an

easy ta rget for Body Snatch ing .

But desp i te i t s l i p serv i ce to co ld ra t iona l i ty and c la r i ty ,

Descartes ' s thought might a l so be descr ibed, as Pau l Zweig has

suggested in TheHeresy of Sel fLove (124) , as essent ia l l y Gnost i c ,

and th i s qua l i ty , too, has contr ibuted might i l y to i t s unconsc ious

legacy to the modern wor ld .7 L i ke the Gnost i c s , Descartesat once

the inher i tor of the fundamenta l Gnost i c pred i spos i t ion and the

condui t for i t s memes' l a ter propagat ion in those who, a lbe i t unconsc ious ly , now

adopt a s imi la r posturesimply had no t rust in the earth ly .

Whi le ma instreamChr i s t i an i ty enshr ined the Incarnat ionboth Chr i s t ' s and

our ownas the centra l mystery of i t s fa i th , the c ross that must be both born and

t ranscended, Gnost i c i smfoundrepugnant everyth ing bodi l y , everyth ing concerned

wi th matter . The fa l l i n to matter was for themunbearab le and unacceptab le . " Just as

the semenof man, the minute , inv i s ib le , seed possess ing a scarce ly measurab le

weight , acqu i res s i ze and weight as i t deve lops ," so for the Gnost i c s , Lacarr iere

exp la ins , "do the pr imord ia l seeds , the potent ia l i t i es of a hypercosmic wor ld ,

acqu i re weight by fa l l ing into the lower wor ld , becoming more and more dense in

substance" (18) . The Gnost i c s sought to reverse the process , to break the cha in of

be ing .

Gnost i c i smwas conv inced that ( in the words of Jacques

Lacarr iere) "our th ink ing be ing i s t i ed to ev i l a s ine luc tab ly as our

phys i ca l be ing i s t i ed to the carbon in our body ce l l s" (24 ; my emphas i s ) .

"Why d id ye carry meaway f rommyabode into capt i v i ty and cast me

into the st ink ing body?" one Gnost i c text beseeches . "To surrender

onese l f to weight , to inc rease i t in a l l senses of the term(by absorb ing

food, or by procreat ing , weigh ing the wor ld downwi th success ive

b i r ths) , " the Gnost i c s be l ieved, " i s to co l l aborate in th i s unhappy

dest iny . . . . To d i scard or l i ghten a l l the matter of th i s wor ld , that i s the s t range end

7Descartes l ived , Zweig notes , in a "wor ld" o f newexp lorat ion , newpo l i t i cs , and

newth ink ing , wh ich had b lurred the fami l ia r shapes , mak ing the humanmore and more

prob lemat ic . Descartes ' s mal in genie i s s t range ly appropr ia te to th is wor ld o f uncerta inty : i t

exempl i f ies the "uneasy sense of man betrayed , somehow, by the wor ld he l ives in" (12425) .


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the Gnost i c s pursued" (Lacarr iere 19) . Even the most e lementa l phenomenon

nutr i t ionwas thought to be a "ma lef i cent interac t ion ," part of "a neverending

c i rc le , as vert i g inous as the whi rpool of the stars or the cyc le of t ime" (Lacarr iere

24) . And so in the Gnost i c mythology , Chr i s t , for example , was idea l i zed as a be ing

who"ate and drank but d id not defecate . Such was the st rength of h i s cont inence

that foods d id not corrupt in h im, for h imthere was no corrupt ion" (Lacarr iere 37) .

For the Gnost i c s , "The s imple fac t of l i v ing , o f breath ing , feed ing , s leep ing ,

and wak ing ," impl ied " the ex i s tence and the growth of ev i l " ( Lacarr iere 24) . On ly the

eye , the Gnost i c s be l ieved, i s immune f romwor ld ly corrupt ion; un l i ke the mouth, the

anus , the nave l , the eye l i ves on l i ght instead of matter , on sp i r i t instead of f i l th .

V i s ion a lone a l lows escape f romthe "noi se" of th i s wor ld to pursue the t ru ly rea l .

"The Gnost i c , " Zweig notes , " fe l t that he had been thrown into a desert" when

born into the mundanewor ld . "But he was not ent i re ly lost , for he cou ld retreat into

h i s mind, to a po int he ca l led the 'apex ' o f h i s sou l . . . . Persecuted by the wor ld , the

Gnost i c foundrefuge in h i s ' sp i r i t . ' " The s imi la r i ty to Descartes i s obv ious . " I f we

subst i tute Descartes ' ma l in gn ie [ev i l gen ius] for the Gnost i c Demiurge ," we f ind

" that the Medi ta t ions propose an ana logous s i tuat ion . On the one handthere i s the

persecut ing Godwhogoverns over a wor ld of dece i t , on the other the ind iv idua l who

d i scovers in h i s ownthought a source of ina l ienab le f reedom" (Zweig 12425) .

Not surpr i s ing ly , as Zweig obseres , "The ' I ' o f the Medi ta t ions ," the persona

revea led by the text , "casts no shadow" (143) , for to cast a shadowone needs a

body , and Descartes seemsre luc tant to have one. Reca l l , i f you wi l l , the scene in the

1978 Body Snatchers in which E l i zabeth Dr i sco l l , hop ing for reconc i l i a t ion , t r ies to

throwher a rmsaroundher lover Je f f rey , the yuppie , spacecadet dent i s t who i s the

f i r s t ind iv idua l in the f i lmweac tua l l y knowto have beenabsorbed. A l ready

susp ic ious of h i s behav ior , E l i zabeth reco i l s immediate ly , as i f she had touched

someth ing inhuman, as i f her ownbody were tac i t l y repe l led by the a l ienat ion of the

"other ." I can imag ine fee l ing a s imi la r repugnance to the phys i ca l presence of Ren

Descartes , cou ld I somehowbe t ransported back into t ime: I know I fe l t a comparab le

ant ipathy , a psychosomat i c ch i l l , i n the presence of Sk ip . For CarbonChauv in i s ts , I

l i ke to th ink , the response i s s t i l l i nst inc tua l , thoughwenow l i ve in the midst of

evo lut ionary , Gnost i c changes in our be ing in thewor ld that cou ld wel l make such

abhorrence one day vest ig ia l and doomus to ext inc t ion .

I amfa i r l y certa in that the Body Snatchers a re not yet spread ing the i r pods

amongus ; they do not yet conduct the i r consp i racy w i th megaphones on st reet


17/32


corners . But they a re spread ing the i r memes, t ry ing to conv ince us , l i ke the converts

in the two f i lms, that there i s noth ing to fear in surrender ing our bodies for

absorpt ion , seek ing to assure us that weno longer need to showany rea l , longterm

care for these heavy , burdensome, demanding veh ic les of mind, acc l imat ing us to the

prospect of shedding our f l esh whenthe t imecomes for f ina l metamorphos i s .

V

Weare so fa r d ivorced f rom i t that we immediate ly fee l a sort of

loath ing for ac tua l , " rea l l i fe , " and so cannot even stand to be

remindedof i t . . . . Weare oppressed by be ing menmenwi th rea l

ind iv idua l body and b lood. Weare ashamedof i t ; we th ink i t a d i sgrace

and t ry to contr i ve to be somesort of genera l i zed man. Weare s t i l l

born , and for many years wehave not beenbegotten by l i v ing fa thers ,

and th i s su i ts us better and better . Weare deve lop ing a taste for i t .

Soonwesha l l somehowcontr i ve to be born f roman idea .

Fyodor Dostoevsky , Notes f romUnderground

In UpWingers, an utter l y madt reat i se on technolog i ca l

eng ineer ing and the extra terrestr ia l imperat i ve , the I ran ianborn

futur i s t F . M. Esfand iary ins i s ts that the on ly so lut ion to a l l our press ing

earth ly prob lems i s to embrace a cosmic a l ternat i ve to our current

po l i t i ca l v iewpoints : what he ca l l s " the upcoming Up." He seeks to l ay

out a b luepr int for a tota l l y openended, "cosmica l i zed" future in which

humank ind t ranscends not on ly the o ld b i furcat ion into le f t and r i ght

wing th ink ing but reso lves as wel l the o ld d i lemmaof mindbody dua l i sm

(a dua l i smDescartes locked into p lace for the modern age) througha

vanqui sh ing of the phys i ca l and mater ia l in which humanbe ings overcomethe need

for (amongother th ings) mothers , fami l ies , ch i ldren, the seasons , p lanets , suf fer ing

of any k ind , bod i l y funct ions , bod ies themselves , and, of course , death , as he seeks

to co lon i ze "A l l T imeand A l l Space" (15) . UpWingers i s a naked, unequivoca l t rac t

on Body Snatch ing .

Wehave no f reedom i f we d ie , Es fand iary ins i s ts ; thus the body must be

ent i re ly redes ignedthi s t imeaccord ing to our spec i f i ca t ions : "The more weremake

our bodies the more humanwewi l l g row. Wehave beenprehuman." ( "Eat ing


18/32


dr ink ing defecat ing reproduc ing s leep ing wa lk ing dy ingal l these a re prehuman," he

proc la ims, renounc ing punctuat ion too as react ionary . ) Because he t rusts the

"cumulat i ve w i sdomof humans fa r more than the s lowarb i t ra ry work ings of

evo lut ion ," Es fand iary has noth ing but d i sda in for the body wehave inher i ted and a l l

i t s funct ions , and un l i ke h i s in te l lec tua l forebear Descartes , he does not even

a t tempt to mask h i s d i sgust in ph i losophica l l anguage. Just as the Body Snatchers

themselves worked in secret ear l y on in both f i lms, spread ing the i r b l i ght

c landest ine ly unt i l i nc reas ing numbers a l lowedthemto go publ i c w i th the i r

consp i racy , the i r h i s tor i ca l advocates , too, once spoke on ly in hushed, subduedtones

and on ly in carefu l l y reasoned, sc ient i f i c , caut ious vo i ces unt i l the i r menta l i ty was so

wide ly d i sseminated, so muchcommonsense , that the pretense can nowbe dropped,

and they can comeout of the c losetasEsfand iary has doneabout the i r ac tua l

Gnost i c loath ing for the phys i ca l and the earth ly , announc ing openly the i r t rue

cosmic mot ives . Here i s a sampl ing .

The an ima l humanorgan i sm i s s t ruc tura l l y a robot . A r i g id robot manipu la ted

by i t s predeterminedb io logy and env i ronment .

What i s more robot l i ke than hav ing a t regu lar interva l s to inha le and exha le

to eat dr ink ur inate evacuate s leep? A l l these mechanica l funct ions a re

programmed into me. I have noth ing to say about them. They are beyondmy

contro l .

I f I s toppedbreath ing for on ly a fewminutesafewqu ick noth ing minutes

that ' s i t . I f I don ' t eat or dr ink or s leep a t regu lar interva l s my body beg ins to

f lounder my mind beg ins to go fuzzy . Last n ight in the midd le of a deep

merc i fu l s leep I suddenly jumpedup robot l i ke and rushed to the bathroom.

There I was in the midd le of s leep ha l f consc ious ha l f a l i ve ho ld ing my th ing .

I s there anyth ing more programmedmore manipu la ted than a l l th i s? (108)

To Esfand iary , in apparent " f rustra t ion a t the knowledge [ that he i s ] mere ly

morta l " (Sear les 240) , consumedwi th the asp i ra t ion to becomea new, exemplary

vers ion of the nondefecat ing Gnost i c Chr i s t , the humanbody i s an utter l y loathsome

th ing , beneath contempt: a " f i re hazard heav i l y po l luted poor ly vent i l a ted bad ly


19/32


20/32


l onger care for , encourag ing us to drop our husks in preparat ion forand

inseparab le f romour own"omnipotent fantasy" of cosmica l i za t ion . (Committed to

reminding h i s Space Age contemporar ies of the coming "TranshumanAge," successor

to the Aquar ian , Es fand iary recent ly changedh i s nameto "FM2030" and publ i shed a

book of se l f tests des igned to enable ind iv idua l s to ident i fy whether they have t ru ly

become"newevolut ionary be ings" [ see Koennen] . )

Such cheer lead ing i s nowbe ing g i ven cons iderab le inte l lec tua l support and

c redence. (As Ph i l ip S la ter has noted, "The conv ic t ion of many sch i zophren ics that

the bra in cou ld funct ion better i f on ly the annoy ing body in which i t i s imbedded

cou ld be loppedof f , i s nowshared, not surpr i s ing ly , by sc ient i s ts" [23] . )8Outspoken,

prophet i c vo i ces , speak ing as i f f romthe Arch imedeanpoint , fear less l y propoundthe

inev i tab i l i ty , the natura lness , o f an evo lut ion beyondthe phys i ca l body .

Bernal | Arendt

Asa l ready noted in a prev ious chapter , humanac t ion , seen f romthe

perspect i ve of the Arch imedeanpoint , comes to seemak in to the behav ior of

l aboratory ra ts : "Seen f roma suf f i c ient d i s tance ," Arendt observes , " the cars in

which wet rave l and which weknowwebu i l t ourse lves w i l l l ook as though they were ,

as He i senberg once put i t , ' a s inescapable a part of ourse lves as the sna i l ' s she l l i s to

i t s occupant ' " ( "Man's Conquest" 540) . In the "F lesh" chapter of TheWorld, the

F lesh, andtheDevi l , Berna l had a l ready pro jec ted a future "supersed ing" of bod ies

by the processes of evo lut ion and foresawsuch a s tep as a quantum leap for the

advance of inte l l i gence , a l lowing humank ind to take i t s dest iny into i t s ownhands ,

redes ign ing i t s ownchemistry , d i spens ing wi th use less body parts as necessary . The

8 " I f a k ind of Cartes ian idea l were ever complete ly fu l f i l led ," Stern has observed ,

" i .e . i f the whole wor ld o f nature were on ly what can be exp la ined in terms of mathemat ica l

re la t ionsh ipsthen wewould look a t the wor ld with that fear fu l sense of a l ienat ion , with

that u tter loss o f rea l i ty with which a future sch izophren ic ch i ld looks a t h is mother . A

mach ine cannot g ive b i r th" (78) .


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concept ion of exosomat i c evo lut ion nowemerg ing cons i s tent l y but unconsc ious ly

assumes just such a rad ica l po int of v iew, which i s taken, of course , to be on ly

commonsense .

Andso in the Space Age we f ind the "Nev i l l e Chamber la in [of ] humani ty ' s

re la t ion to technology" (S la ter 22) , futur i s t A lv in Tof f ler , ins i s t ing ( in

FutureShock) that the t imehas cometo abandonthe concept of f i xed

bodies and accept instead the idea (a l ready in preparat ion in modern

medic ine) of "modular bodies" and the eventua l wholesa le redes ign of

the race .

We learn that MIT ' s Marv in Minsky be l ieves that humanbe ings

al ready carbonbased "machines"wi l l certa in ly grow"t i red of the i r l imi ta t ions ,"

w i l l "get fed up wi th the i r bod ies ," and des ign newones . And thoughsomeCarbon

Chauv in i s ts may fear that in seek ing incarnat ion in mach ines of our owndev i s ing ,

someth ing of our humani ty w i l l be lost , Minsky counse l s that such th ink ing

represents on ly the react ionary squeamishness of those who"worsh ip death ." Death ,

he hastens to remind us , i s a f ter a l l "on ly bad luck ," an eng ineer ing f l awthat can

certa in ly be overcome.9

And weread that Hans Moravec of

Carneg ieMel lon dreamsof a " robot i c

immorta l i ty for Everyman," madeposs ib le by

means of the c reat ion of a computer copy of a

mind that would then be t ransp lanted

( "downloaded") into a robot body . "Moravec ' s

idea ," Grant F jermeda l has observed, i s " the

u l t imate in l i fe insurance" :

Once a copy of the bra in ' s contents has beenmade, i t w i l l be easy to make

mul t ip le backupcop ies , and these cou ld be stashed in h id ing p laces a round

the wor ld , a l lowing you to embark on any sort of adventure wi thout hav ing to

worry about ag ing or death . As decades pass into centur ies you cou ld t rave l

the g lobe and then the so la r systemandbeyondalways keeping an eye out

for the l a test in robot bodies into which you cou ld t ransfer your computer

mind. (5 )

9 The quotat ions f romMinsky a re t ranscr ibed f roman in terv iewon Nat iona l Pub l ic

Rad io ' s A l l Th ings Cons idered, May 1986 .


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"Bodies ," Moravec i s conv inced, "have served the i r purpose" (60) . Wi th such a

technolog i ca l advance ava i l ab le , the or ig ina l body would , o f course , be of no use .

Af ter copy ing the mind, there would be no rea l need to "wake" the body aga in . A f ter

a l l , Moravec has observed wi th out of thec loset candor , the body i s "so messy .

Humans have got so many prob lems that you might just want to leave i t ret i red . You

don ' t take your junker car out i f you 've got a newone" (5 ) .

Not surpr i s ing ly , Moravec sees such exosomat i c evo lut ion as most

advantageous for space exp lorat ion . Conv inced that our spec ies faces inev i tab le

ext inc t ion i f we do not d i sseminate our k ind into a var iety of n i ches ac ross the

ga laxy , and certa in that weshouldthoughwecont inue to s tubborn ly remain

"b io log i ca l l y committed to persona l death""re jo i ce" a t the cont inuat ion of our

cu l ture in any form, weshould wi l l ing ly accept that evo lut ion wi l l l eap beyondthe

mere ly human. Wemust remember , Moravec reminds us , ant i c ipat ing the compla ints

of CarbonChauv in i s ts , that "away f romEarth , prote in i s not an idea l mater ia l . I t ' s

s tab le on ly in a narrowtemperature and pressure range, i s sens i t i ve to h igh energy

d i s turbances , and ru les out many construct ion techniques and components" ( "Endless

Front ier" 394) . Thus " the h igh cost of ma inta in ing humans in space" w i l l i nsure " that

there wi l l a lways be more machinery per person than on Earth" ( "Endless Front ier"

393) .

Such machines w i l l eventua l l y undergo the i r ownnatura l se lec t ion:

Whenhumans becomeunnecessary in space industry [an inev i tab i l i ty ,

accord ing to Moravec ] , the machines ' phys i ca l g rowth wi l l c l imb. When

machines reach and surpass human in inte l l i gence , the inte l lec tua l g rowth

ra te w i l l r i se s imi la r l y . The sc ient i f i c and technica l d i scover ies of super

inte l l i gent mechani smswi l l be app l ied to mak ing themselves smarter s t i l l . The

machines , look ing qu i te un l i ke the machines weknow, w i l l exp lode into the

un iverse , l eav ing us beh ind in a f i gurat i ve c loud of dust . Our inte l lec tua l , but

not genet i c , progeny wi l l i nher i t the un iverse . Barr ing pr ior c la ims. ( "Endless

Front ier" 393)

Aga in ant i c ipat ing h i s readers ' qua lms, Moravec hastens to exp la in that the

prospect he descr ibes "may not be as bad as i t sounds." For the "machine

c i v i l i za t ion" he env i s ions "wi l l certa in ly take a long everyth ing wecons ider important .


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After a l l , humanbe ings neednot becomenonexi stent , s ince " rea l l i ve humanbe ings ,

and a whole communi ty , cou ld be reconst i tuted i f an appropr ia te c i rcumstance ever

a rose"aneasy matter , s ince a l l that i s important about humanbe ings i s reduc ib le

to " the in format ion in our minds and genes" ( "Endless Front ier" 393) .

We l i s ten very carefu l l y whenanother MIT sc ient i s tGera ld J . Sussman

ins i s ts that "everyonewould l i ke to be immorta l " and proc la ims that , though the

t ime i s not yet "qu i te r i ght" for such a s tep (a threshold he l i kens to " the t rans i t ion

f rom l i fe to non l i fe" ) , i t i s certa in ly not that fa r of f : " i t ' s c lose . I 'ma f ra id ,

unfortunate ly , that I 'm in the l ast generat ion to d ie" (F jermeda l 25960) .

Wehear the prominent space advocate Barbara Marx Hubbard express her

ut ter amazement a t the o ld fash ionednature of her humanbody : "Whoever thought

that th i s part i cu la r model of the body i s i t forever? A l i t t le , mammal ian , furry body ,

i t forever? Somet imes I not i ce my body . I t has l i t t le fur , l i t t l e fangs , ears s t i l l s l i ght l y

po inted. Weare sp i r i tua l be ings s t i l l i n an ima l bod ies and i t a lways s t ruck meas

wei rd ."10

A t present , death i s "scheduled into the evo lut ionary process" for such a

body , but wecou ld and should , Hubbard ins i s ts , through technolog i ca l innovat ion

and the psych ic advances (h igh

consc iousness and h igh tech be ing

c lose ly l inked in Hubbard 's

wor ldv iew) , " reset that c lock" and

move"out of the mammal ian body

consc ious ly ." "Weneedno longer

fee l that i t i s 'bad ' to d ie ,"

Hubbard 's Space Age, Te i lhard ian

Chr i s t i an i ty te l l s her . " I f you don ' t

rea l l y need a body , you might as wel l d ie . . . . However , i f you needa body , because

you want to do work in the cosmos that i s s t i l l on the phys i ca l p lane, even though i t

i s t ranscending the mammal ian phys i ca l p lane, then you wi l l keep a body . Th i s i s a

newopt ion that evo lut ion i s keep ing opento us as a spec ies" (290) .

Weare w i tnesses to the b i r th of "bodies which wi l l not per i sh ," eng ineered by

modern sc ience and technology , and though"r i ght now i t sounds ra ther awkward:

rep lac ing parts , cyborgs , computer i zed inte l l i gence ," a l l th i s , Hubbard reassures us ,

10 Th is quotat ion i s t ranscr ibed f romnotes taken dur ing a pub l ic v iewing of a

v ideotape of a Hubbard lecture ent i t led "Campaign for a Pos i t ive Future ." The date and

p lace o f the lecture a re unknown.


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wi l l be somehow, someday , sp i r i tua l l y t ransformed; a l l w i l l be madebeaut i fu l .

"Anyth ing that surv ives in evo lut ion ," she ins i s ts , " i s beaut i fu l " (29091) .

Wed i scover even a member of Snow's cu l ture of humanism, the l i terary

scholar and cu l ture c r i t i c O . B . Hard i son, J r . ( in DisappearingThroughtheSky l ight:

CultureandTechnology in theTwentieth Century [33349] ) , capt i vated by the

exosomat i c . Sanguine about the "d i sappearance of man" as the natura l resu l t o f

evo lut ion , d i smayed ( thoughwi thout Esfand iary ' s d i sgust ) a t the f rag i l i ty of the

"carboni ferous fabr i c , " cogn i zant of the "vorac ious" needs and eco log i ca l impact of

carbon l i fe ( " I t consumes the resources i t needs for surv iva l . . . . the more successfu l

carbonman i s , the more host i l e the env i ronment becomes") , Hard i son i s more than

ready to conc lude that the "dreamsof carbonmanare n ightmares ." S i l i con man's

dreamsare e l sewhere; no longer "p lanetcentered," i t s natura l sphere i s space .

Perhaps , Hard i son hopes , " the re la t ion betweencarbonman

and the s i l i con dev i ces he i s c reat ing" w i l l prove to be ana logous to

that of " the caterp i l l a r and the i r idescent w ingedc reature . . . the

caterp i l l a r unconsc ious ly prepares to become." H i s ownsympath ies

a re w i th the butter f l y . Conf ident that i t i s on ly a matter of t ime

before a l l that i s rea l l y important about carbonmaninte l lec t ,

imag inat ion , c reat i v i ty , v i s ionis t ransferred to s i l i con , he wonders

i f the t imewi l l not comewhen" the sp i r i t f ina l l y separates i t se l f f roman outmoded

veh ic le ." Such a moment , he imag ines , may prove to be " less l i ke a death than a b i r th

of humani ty ." L i ke Heppenheimer , Hard i son f inds the poets support i ve of h i s p lans ,

th i s t imequot ing Yeats"Sa i l ing to Byzant ium"asa prophet i c v i s ion of h i s own

Body Snatcher dreamsof be ing "Once out of nature ."

Andwehear Arthur C . C la rke ' s prophecy that "one can imag ine a t imewhen

menwhost i l l i nhab i t organ ic bodies a re regardedwi th p i ty by those whohave

passed on to an in f in i te ly r i cher modeof ex i s tence. . . . One day there may be a

secondand more portentous adolescence, whenweb id fa rewel l to the f lesh"

(Prof i l es209) . Indeed, such a s tep , C la rke i s conv inced, i s abso lute ly necessary i f we

ever hope to expand into the un iverse :11

"Creatures of f l esh and b loodsuch as

11Br i t i sh futur is t Br ian Stab le ford i s somewhat more opt imis t ic about the future o f

the organ ic in space . In h is Future Man (12732) , he suggests we can popu late the ga lax ies

by redes ign ing the humangenotype to l i l part icu la r env i ronments : "Each wor ld , i f we are

ever to possess more than one, wi l l a lmost certa in ly have to have i t s ownpart icu la r human

spec ies . I I there a re no in te l l igent a l iens e lsewhere in the ga laxy , we wi l l have to invent

them. They wi l l be our descendents . " Stab le ford ' s book even supp l ies us with an ar t i s t ' s

rendender ings o f poss ib le newdes igns . The reconstruct ion of Homosapiens . Stab le ford


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ourse lves can exp lore space and win contro l over in f in i tes ima l f rac t ions of i t . But

on ly c reatures of meta l and p last i c can ever rea l l y conquer i t , a s indeed they have

a l ready started to do. The t iny bra ins of our Prospectors and Rangers mere ly h int a t

the mechanica l in te l l i gence that w i l l one day be l auncheda t the stars" (223) .12 " In

the ages to come," C la rke suggests , champion ing the separat ion of the twocu l tures ,

" the du l la rds may remain on p lac id Earth , and rea l gen ius w i l l f lour i sh on ly in space

therea lmof the machine , not of f l esh and b lood" (Profi les 223) .

But a fus ion of humanand machine wi l l not long sa t i s fy

our yearn ing . In 2001: A Space Odyssey , C la rke speaks of

th inkers w i th "exot i c v iews" whobe l ieve " that rea l l y advanced

be ings" would not "possess organ ic bodies a t a l l " ( those " f rag i le

d i seaseandacc ident prone homes that Nature had g iven them

andwhich doomedthemto inev i tab le death") . Thoughhe

acknowledges that " the bra in might l inger for a l i t t l e whi le as the l ast remnant of the

organ ic body ," eventua l l y mind would have to f ree i t se l f ent i re ly f rommatter : "The

robot body , l i ke the f leshandb loodone, would be no more than a s teppingstone to

someth ing which , long ago, menca l led ' sp i r i t . ' And i f there was anyth ing beyond

that , i t s namecou ld on ly be God" (17374) .

Such th inkers , o f course , a re not the c reat ions of sc ience f i c t ion , for C la rke

h imse l fnot to ment ion Jastrow, Esfand iary , Minsky , Moravec , Sussman, Hubbard ,

Hard i soncana l ready be numbered amongthe be l ievers .13The exosomat i c dreamsof

the Body Snatchers a re sp inof fs of the sc ience f i c t ion cu l ture of the Space Age.

VI

suggests , wi l l be on ly one phase in a genera l fu ture pro ject : : "F lesh wi l l becomea medium in

wh ich ones descendents can work as a r t i s ts and cra ftsmen, mould ing i t a t wi l l to serve

mult i fa r ious purposes . In t ime, we wi l l obta in a power over the natura l wor ld wh ich wi l l be

l i tera l ly god l ike" (15) . 12Not a l l Space Age v is ions o f the t ranscendence of the body in space are cybernet ic .

In The Op iuch i Hot l i ne , s c ience f ic t ion wr i ter John Var ley imagines future astronauts in an

in terp lanetary soc iety choos ing to have the i r cumbersome legs removed for better mobi l i ty

in weight less env i ronments . 13 The contemporary sc ience f ic t ion f i lm, V iv ian Sobchack notes in "Post futur ism"

( the f ina l chapter o f her book Sc reening Space ) , "constructs a pr iv i leged equ iva lence

between e lectron ic space and 'outer ' space . Both are spaces we regu lar ly exper ience and yet

cannot ' inhab i t ' wi thout techno log ica l med iat ion , without sometransformat ion or mutat ion

of our bod ies , wi thout (as Jameson suggests ) the growth of 'neworgans 'be they a ' joy

s t ick , ' a 'mouse , ' or a spacesu i t" (25657) . C lear ly , as my survey here shows, th is

equ iva lence i s nowno mere f ic t ion .


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To say someone i s "ana l " means that someone i s t ry ing

extra hard to protect h imse l f aga inst the acc idents of l i fe

and the danger of death , t ry ing to use the symbols of

cu l ture as a sure means of t r iumphover natura l mystery ,

t ry ing to pass h imse l f o f f as anyth ing but an an ima l .

Ernest Becker , TheDenia l of Death

I s i t not revea l ing that the exp lorat ion and co lon i zat ion of space i s

inc reas ing ly env i s ionedby i t s advocates as an essent ia l s tep in extr i ca t ion f romour

woefu l l y morta l body? I t i s as i f we fantas i ze that occupy ing in fac t that "h igher"

rea lmon which wehave a lways pro jec ted our fantas ies of d i sembodied, a f ter l i fe

immorta l i ty , we wi l l mi racu lous ly be ab le to a t ta in a l i v ing , though technolog i zed,

otherwor ld ly immorta l i ty , once r id of the grav i ty , the cares , o f the humancondi t ion

on Earth .

I t i s in preparat ion for th i s "upcoming ," Gnost i c , h igher l i fe that weare

t ry ing out the dropping of the body now, f i r s t idea l l y , then, w i th the a id of our

technolog i ca l mag ic , in rea l i ty , c leans ing ourse lves in advance for that dest iny we

have long foreseen in our ownse l f fu l f i l l i ng re l i g ious prophec ies . Wemay be

wi tness ing hereas I suggested ear l ierad i sp lacement of essent ia l l y re l i g ious

va lues s imi la r in k ind and in scope to (perhaps even a cont inuat ion of? ) the one

Weber ana lyzed, in which the "Protestant eth i c" was ro l led over into "bu i ld ing the

t remendous cosmosof the modern economic order ." But there i s a muchmore bas i c ,

and more earthy , way of understanding the ra t iona l i za t ions and behav ior of Body

Snatchers . Body Snatchers , I would l i ke to suggest , a re s imply "ana l " ; and so , too, i s

the whole pro jec t to be f reed f romthe body and unearth h imse l f , f romDescartes to

Esfand iary .

Why i s i t that the chron ica l l y ma l funct ion ing to i le t on space shutt le miss ions

( the l a test breakdownoccurred in l a te 1990) has caused such

embarrassment? Onone launch carry ing exper imenta l mammals , the

a i r ins ide the shutt le reported ly turned "brownish" f romexcrement ,

both humanandan ima l ! (Was i t not to escape prec i se ly th i s sort of

unp leasantness that weare heading for the stars? Imag ine the

react ion of an Esfand iaryaman"grossed out" by the necess i ty of re l iev ing h imse l f

in the midd le of the n ighttosuch a mess . ) NASAunderstandably sought to hush up

unfavorab le publ i c i ty about th i s nox ious "g l i tch" in our extra terrestr ia l p lans .


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28/32


29/32


phi losopher ' s "posthumous" v i s ion coming to l i fe a roundh im in the "medecade,"

yuppie l i fe sty le :

[N ietzsche] cou ld see [ the l ast men] jogg ing toward h im:

br ight faced c reatures in the i r t racksu i ts , hearts beat ing ,

lungs d i l a t ing , heads br imming wi th the mus ic on the i r

Walkmen. These l ast menand womenwould convert sex into

recreat ion; the ascet i c i smof re l i g ion into the ascet i c i smof

a th let i c s ; the reg imens of introspect ion into the power of

pos i t i ve th ink ing ; the humangoodin a l l i t s t rag i c

complex i tyinto the g lowof phys i ca l wel l be ing . (28 )

Though the popular press proc la ims the NewHea l th to mark the end of Cartes ian

dua l i sm, Ignat ie f f demonstrates that i t ac tua l l y represents the apotheos i s of what he

ca l l s i t s "mora l Prometheani sm: the v iewthat man's reason makes h imthe master of

both humanandnonhumannature ." The gu id ing pr inc ip le of the contemporary

obsess ion wi th hea l th remains that "man's w i l l w i l l make h immaster of h i s fa te"

(29) .

N ietzsche, weshould reca l l , d id not need to look into h i s c rysta l ba l l to see

those contemporar ies he would ca l l i n Zarathustra "desp i sers of the body" :

ind iv idua l s ob l i v ious to the fac t that " the body i s a great reason," unable to accept

that there i s "more reason in your body than in your best w i sdom." 15He was not

p lay ing prophet whenhe observed that these be ings were "angry w i th l i fe and the

Earth" (14647) . But these desp i sers , he knew, were progeni tors of the l ast men: the

ancestors of the Body Snatchers .

Body Snatchers , i t would seem, have a l ready acqui red such a taste , a re

a l ready contemptuous of the fa t p lanet that l imi ts the i r carbonbased se lves . Carbon

Chauv in i s ts l i ke myse l f , by contrast , a re content for the t imebe ing to be "stuck in

o ld concepts" as weseek to d i scover our ownrootednessto fee l a t homehere on

Earth , complet ing our earth ly odyssey before embark ing on an endless cosmic one. In

the face of our accusers weshout as our c reed the words of that most earthy of

wr i ters , Monta igne:

15Nietzsche had no in tent ion of re forming the "desp isers" but ra ther , l i ke Dav id

Brower and Wendel l Berry in the i r wi l l ingness to le t Spacek ind depart , wanted to le t them

have the i r way: " I wou ld not have them learn and teach d i f ferent ly ," Nietzsche wr i tes , "but

mere ly say fa rewel l to the i r ownbod ies and thus becomes i lent . . . . Desp isers o f the

body ," he recogn izes , "a re no br idge to the overman!" (14647) .


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I t i s an abso lute perfec t ion and v i r tua l l y d iv ine to knowhowto en joy our

be ing r i ght fu l l y . Weseek other condi t ions because wedo not understand the

use of our own, and go outs ide of ourse lves because wedo not

knowwhat i t i s l i ke ins ide . Yet there i s no use our mount ing on

st i l t s , for on st i l t s wemust s t i l l wa lk on our legs . And on the

lo f t iest throne in the wor ld weare s t i l l s i t t ing on our ownrump

[sur notre cu l ] . (459 , 461)16

I doubt , however that they would be amused. Body Snatchers a re such a humor less

sort .

VII

The greatest poverty i s not to l i ve

in a phys i ca l wor ld .

Wal lace Stevens , "Esthet ique du Mal"

In Ron Howard 's f i lmCocoon (1985) , a t r io of e lder l y men in a

F lor ida ret i rement communi ty d i scover that a swimming pool in a

nearby mans ion has inexp l i cab le re juvenat ing powers . A f ter

swimming in i t , a l l three " fee l l i ke a mi l l ion" ; a l l rega in long lost

a th let i c and sexua l power and exper ience a t remendous surge of

energytothe amazement , and consternat ion , o f the i r w ives and

fe l lowsen ior c i t i zens .

The mans ion, i t seems, has beenrented by somevery

advancedextra terrestr ia l sAntereanswhohave comeback to Earth to rev iv i fy

16 "There are some," Monta igne observes in "Of Exper ience ," "who f romsavage

s tup id i ty . . . a re d isgusted with [sensua l p leasure] : I knowsomewhoact that way f rom

ambit ion ." H is response to such men i s v in tage Monta igne: "Whydo they not a lso g ive up

breath ing? Whydo they not l ive on the i r owna i r , and re fuse l ight . . . ? Won' t they t ry to

square the c i rc le wh i le perched on the i r wives! I hate to have peop le order us to keep our

minds in the c louds whi le our bod ies a re a t tab le . I wou ld not have the mind na i led downto

i t nor wa l lowing a t i t , but a t tend ing to i t ; s i t t ing a t i t , not ly ing downat i t " (433) .

Monta igne ' s sarcast ic rhetor ica l quest ions , incred ib ly enough, have cometo seemqu ite

reasonab le postu la tes to an Es fand iary . Giv ing up breath ing i s , for Es fand iary , a f ine

ambit ion! And no doubt l ie wou ld negate Monta igne ' s seeming ly un impeachab le and

humbl ing ins ight about our ana l i ty by making des ign modi f ica t ions on our humansubstance

so that wewould not need no t re cu l .


31/32


comrades they were forced to abandon in the At lant i c Ocean many thousands of

years before . Wi th the a id of a young, prev ious ly unsuccessfu l f i sh ingboat p i lot , Jack

Bonner (Steve Guttenberg) , the a l iens move the i r fe l lowbe ingsencased in

cocoonstothe swimming pool , which , w i thout the i r knowledge, the i r ne ighbors

have beensurrept i t ious ly v i s i t ing . Etherea l , a lmost ange l i c be ings , the Antereans i t

seems, have very near ly evo lved beyondthe need for bodies ( though the i r

und i sgu i sed form i s roughly humanoid , they appear to be madeof l i ght and not

f l esh) , and the i r hea l ing powers a re l imi t less . The i r very touch, as Bonner learns ,

soothes any in jury , and just the presence of the cocoons in the pool has t ransformed

even i t s ch lor inated water into a curea l l .

Pred ic tab ly , whenthe rest of the popula t ion of Sunny Shores learns the

secret , they of course demandto share i t , and the i r mass assau l t on the pool resu l ts

not on ly in the death of severa l o f the Antareans encased in the cocoons but a l so in

the Antareans ' expu l s ion of a l leventhe or ig ina l d i scoverersfromaccess to the i r

founta in of youth . Very forg iv ing be ings , the Antereans do, however , o f fer the i r

ne ighbors another chance. Pr ior to the i r departure , they promise to take a l l who

wish to jo in themaway f romthe i r earth ly fa tes so that they may lead "product i ve

l i ves" in a newwor ldthei r ownwithout ger ia tr i c ghettos .

La ter , Ben Lucket (Wi l ford Br imley) t r ies to exp la in the poss ib i l i ty they have

beenof fered to h i s grandson, Dav id :

Ben: "Meandyour grandmaare go ing away , Dav id ."

Dav id : "Where to?"

Ben: "That ' s not important . . . . Whenweget where we' re go ing we' l l never

be s i ck , we won' t get any o lder , and wewon' t ever d ie ."

Dav id : "You ' re jok ing me, r i ght?"

Ben: "No, no . . . "

Dav id : "Whenwould you go?"

Ben: "Soon, soon. Anddo you knowwhere?"

Dav id : "Where?"

Ben: "Look up! Outer Space , my lad , Outer Space!"

V i r tua l l y the ent i re communi tyanxious to t ranscenda l l i n t imat ions of morta l i ty

accepts the of fer , mak ing i t s escape (w i th Bonner ' s he lp) to an opensea rendezvous


32/32


with the Antareans ' mother sh ip , which l i f t s the i r ownSh ip of Fool s into i t s womb in

preparat ion for a supposed cosmic reb i r th .

Earthk ind can f ind a t l east one character to ident i fy w i th in th i s Space Age

parab le , th i s f i lmof departure and Body Snatch ing . Bern ie Lefkov i tz ( Jack G i l ford) i s

dub ious f romthe very s ta rt about h i s f r iends ' fa i lure to ac t the i r age . Whi le they

accuse h imof be ing the "most f r i ghtenedman" they know, th i s manwho i s f i r s t

ident i f i edin the f i lm's opening sceneashe happi l y rece ives a promised bott le of

ExLax f romthe grocery s tore , defends h i s re luc tance by ins i s t ing , "Nature dea l t us

our handof cards and wep layed them. Nowat the end you ' re t ry ing to reshuf f le the

deck ." He refuses to jo in them in the i r t r ips to the a l iens ' sw imming pool , c l a iming " I

don ' t want to fee l d i f ferent ly ." Only whenh i s be loved wi fe , Rose , d ies , does he

f ina l l y succumbto the temptat ion: in a po ignant scene he carr ies her there in the

fut i l e hope that he might br ing her back to l i fe .

But Bern ie , un interested in swi tch ing h i s cu l tura l a l l eg iance , re fuses to jo in

the communi ty in the i r f ina l escape, thoughhe wishes themwel l : " I hope you f ind

what you ' re look ing for ." And to the i r f ina l p lea to jo in them"Whystay?" they ask

inc redulous lyheanswers s imply : "Th i s i s my home. Th i s i s where I be long ."

Spoken l i ke a t rue CarbonChauv in i s t .

Departure_Body_Snatchers

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