When was the last time you read a love story? I bet some people would think Fifty Shades of Grey, or even something classic like Romeo and Juliet. If there is one thing that I hope we can both share, is that love can be experienced through a story in many different ways. Your exceptions and definitions of love are surly different than mine. I'm positive that you can say the same when it comes to this thing we call love. Ah yes, love. It can even be called an act practiced throughout the ages. A human designed habit born from procreating and surviving. But is it only definable to our species and only on this world?
The short story "Day Million", by Frederik Pohl so elegantly paints a picture of a different point-of-view on love. But first, let me make something clear, she is a he and he is an alien. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let us begin.
Dora is from a far far away planet that is billions of miles away from us. Through a highly advanced genetic structuring, he has been reclassified as a she. Think of it as a redesigned fail safe. I found it to be a really an interesting process. It defines someone before birth, so that they do not have to go through the agony of trying to find themselves in a highly discriminatory society; they are already sexed to their mind’s strongest preference. Therefore, Dora can live her life as she was chemically designed to be and contribute to her society in a positive way.
As for her lover and his star-crossed fate, Don is a starship traveler. He’s more machine than flesh and blood because he's had to modify his body in order to withstand the strains of intergalactic space travel.
When they meet, well, let's just say that things move pretty fast from greeting to let's get married (reminds me of some other star-crossed lovers, actually). They decided to exchange their digits of individuality on a Wednesday. Now you are probably saying to yourself, how is this typical of love stories? Well, that's the point. It's not a typical love story, but it conveys the "essence" of what love is and it also sheds light on what love shouldn't be. For Dora and Don, after getting married, they never physically see each other again. For their culture, this is perfectly acceptable. They do see their digital spouse everyday though. For our alien lovers, the minutiae of human love with its greeting, chasing and always trying to keep the other spouse happy is not relevant for them, or at least, not anymore. We express our love through touch, sex or other forms of mental stimulation. Love is an emotional experience. Dora enjoys Don at her request and desires, as the same goes for Don. They cherish the uniqueness of one another, without the physical realities like that Don, in his mechanical body could not offer in pleasuring a woman like Dora to her ultimate satisfaction.
It's such an interesting story based on love, with descriptions of what beauty can look like and how sexual organs are not always the finite end-all to personal design. What a spin on this age old concept with a dash of alien to spice it up!
I also found interesting that it isn't the body that feels but that mind. Therefore, a simulation is as real as real because the mind doesn't differentiate about where the stimulus comes from.
ReplyDeleteI do wish you'd also commented on the other story.