Cyberpunk and Jewish Folklore

Maybe I’m a minority here, but I think cyberpunk is one of the most fun sub-genres of science fiction because it blurs the lines of what is human and what humans are capable of doing. When an AI becomes so advanced that the difference between it and humans is nigh indistinguishable, who is to say that it isn’t human, especially in societies where body modification has gone to such extremes that the humans are half machine already. I guess what I’m saying is, in a society where machines become more and more human and humans become more and more mechanized, where do you draw the line between them and us? Anyhow, that was my little cyberpunk rant, just ‘cuz I like it.

In He, She and It, however, the lines are not quite that blurred yet. Cyborgs are not commonplace enough that the line between us and them can begin to fade. No, at this point a very concrete line exists, you were manufactured, we were born. Whatever happened later, if you became more human, if I modified myself, our origins continue to define what we are. In this way, I can understand why Yod didn’t want any more cyborgs to be built: he could see that the time for acceptance for artificial people was still a long way off. The parallel story of Joseph tells us that much. His story took place almost 460 years prior to Yod’s, and yet their stories end in nearly the same way, their creator telling them that they have served their purpose, and reclaiming the life from them.

So, I also looked up golems, not having ever studied any Jewish folklore, and Joseph’s story is based on an actual Jewish folktale, and looking at Piercy’s biography on her website, I’m not all that surprised. Considering her grandmother brought her up Jewish and told her stories, she’s probably known that folktale throughout most of her life. That, I think, supports my idea that she did not include the older tale to parallel her own story, but that the folktale was probably an inspiration for Yod’s part in this story, though from what I’ve read, Piercy probably added in Joseph’s love interest, because I’m not seeing her in any of the variations of the story I’m looking at. Anyway, I might have to read some more about Jewish folklore; it seems pretty interesting.