In Piercy’s novel Riva steals (“liberates”) information because she believes that “Information shouldn’t be a commodity” (193). How has the reverse idea of information as a commodity shaped the way things work in the multi domes?
ENGL 360 | Future Perfect Human
Prof. Myra Seaman | Fall 2016
Though it is most clearly seen in the early stages of the novel, I think the commodification of information serves, at least in the Y-S dome, to enforce class boundaries and subsequently ensure conformity. The plug in Shiva’s head that allows her to access a kind of information-storehouse internet, we are told, is “a class distinction” whereas in “free” Tikva, “every child was raised to be able to access directly” (8). Very plainly, the poor or underclasses in the domes are systemically denied access to information, to knowledge, and, in a broader sense, the opportunity to learn. Importantly, there is a physical or maybe even “embodied” aspect to this denial, given the visibly physical requirements for access. Readers are told, for instance, that Shiva’s “plug” is located on her “temple…just under a loop of hair” (8). Thus, in the world of the Y-S dome, one’s class position is apparent from their physical characteristics, a theme continued by the cosmetic surgery efforts of the upper-classes towards an aesthetic “ideal type.” Not only is information / knowledge limited to the upper classes, but this limitation is also visually detectable, a crucial component I think of embodiment issues.
I thin the argument could be made that a considerable amount of the novel is even devoted to this issue. If we are to take Malkah’s story of Maharal as cyclically representative, it is hard to overlook her mention of the Rabbi’s “radical” belief that the “poor have the same right to education as the sons of the well to do” (20). I think Piercy is suggesting the timelessness of access to education/information issues.
I would agree with Matthew that the access to information marks class differences in the multis. The multis not only control access to information, but also the creation of it. Y-S, for example, bids for Shira and others so they can work for the company and create new programs in the form of information codes. It’s implied that the multis want to control the creation of all new information, as this is a likely reason why Zee was tapped to invade Tikva’s Base. The free towns, with their equal access to the Net and their innovative techniques of designing new technology, are threats to multis like Y-S. This reflects an argument going on today, whether access to the Internet is a right or a privilege.
I would have to agree with the previous comments based on the basic idea that, when information and knowledge is treated as something meant for all and free for exploration by all classes, it can begin to crumble old class boundaries.
Throughout much of history class is enforced through education, economics, and military strength… by allowing more open access to education one of those three pillars of “control” or subjugation are disassembled.