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UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The (Manufactured) Human in U.S. Science Fiction, 1938-1950 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7fv9g3p8 Author Kavetsky, Jennifer Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The (Manufactured) Human in U.S. Science Fiction, 1938-1950 A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Jennifer Ann-Connors Kavetsky December 2014 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Sherryl Vint, Chairperson Dr. Derek Burrill Dr. Rob Latham Copyright by Jennifer Ann-Connors Kavetsky 2014 The Dissertation of Jennifer Ann-Connors Kavetsky is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation almost did not get written. The first science fiction book I remember reading was one given to me by my father. He handed me a copy of Robert Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky and said “I think you’ll like this. It’s about pioneers, but they’re on a moon of Jupiter !” I was hooked. When I began studying science fiction in graduate school, I raided my father’s science fiction collection for books. I “borrowed” more books when I decided to write my dissertation on Golden Age science fiction. My father even critiqued a draft of my dissertation proposal before giving me a stack of books to read before I wrote the next draft. And then, one day, my father was gone, taken by a cancer we’d thought he’d beaten. After the funeral, I returned home to face a pile of books critical for my dissertation that had once been my father’s. I wasn’t sure I could continue working on a project that reminded me of what I’d lost at every turn. That this dissertation did get written is a testament to all the people who helped me keep going even when I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I may have written the words, but they did the hard work. Bethanie and Laura Connors, my mother and sister, read draft after draft and gave me feedback. My husband, Jason Kavetsky, supported me financially and emotionally throughout graduate school. He also cheerfully accepted living with the hundreds of books that came with being married to an English graduate student. My best friend since middle school, Caren Losiewicz, read drafts and discussed ideas with me. My extended iv family—grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws—never stopped encouraging me to pursue my dreams. Even my cats “helped” by sleeping on various books, papers, and my lap. A kitten sleeping on one’s lap is a very effective way to keep one in a chair, in front of a computer, writing. My committee supported and encouraged me while I navigated my graduate career. Dr. Rob Latham was instrumental in the creation of a Science Fiction Studies program at UCR. Equally important was his mentorship of graduate students interested in the field, including myself. Dr. Derek Burrill graciously agreed to be on my committee even though I waited until the last moment to ask him. I’m especially grateful to my advisor, Dr. Sherryl Vint, who agreed to chair my dissertation even when I was three months behind and had a broken finger. Her faith in my ability to succeed and her feedback on my project were invaluable. The staff of the UCR Special Collections acquired, maintained, and helped me find the amazing archival materials that made this dissertation possible. I’d like to especially thank Dr. Melissa Conway, Head of Special Collections, who always asked me how the project was going; Sarah M. Allison, who helped me navigate the archives; and the student workers, most notably Candice Daniel, Maria Manzo, Carrie Meng, who always had a smile for me even while bringing me box after dusty box from the archives. Finally, I want to thank the many friends I made during my time at UCR including the fellow inhabitants of Humanities 2300, the staffs of GradSuccess and the Graduate Writing Center, and the English Department as well as the Southern California science fiction community. Your kindness and support made a world of difference. v DEDICATION To My Father, Harry E. Connors, III vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The (Manufactured) Human in U.S. Science Fiction, 1938-1950 by Jennifer Ann-Connors Kavetsky Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in English University of California, Riverside, December 2014 Dr. Sherryl Vint, Chairperson The 1940s were a crucial period in the development of how the human-machine continuum was formulated and understood. Over the course of the decade, Americans experienced numerous social and scientific changes, many of which had long lasting effects. As science and technology became increasingly complex during this period, gender norms also experienced significant changes. Changing gender norms both affected how people understood the Self and how they understood the Self’s relationship with advanced machines. I explore the relationship between humans and their technological tools by examining science fiction texts published during this period. I read both science fiction texts and contemporary reactions to those texts produced by science fiction fans in a variety of professional and amateur publications. I focus on the U.S. science fiction community, especially the portion linked to Astounding Science-Fiction , which largely embraced closer relationships with technology during this period. However, the same vii community resisted attempts to redefine the human side of the equation in relation to gender. This dissertation extends the history of science fiction’s engagement with the relationship between gendered humans and machines. It argues that while the community often expressed a clear interest in integrating humans more fully with machines and machine systems, it resisted attempts to re-define the human Self as other than white, male and heterosexual. The texts considered here laid the groundwork for later movements but many have been lost with the death of the pulps. It also investigates how fans helped to shape the development of some of the genre’s core themes. The ephemeral nature of fan-created texts means that scholarly knowledge of their contents and influence is partial and incomplete. By restoring fans’ voices to the genre’s conversation about the relationship between gendered humans and machines, I am able to give a more complete picture of issues that continue to shape science fiction and American culture today. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Science, Technology, and World War II 21 Chapter 2: Thinking Better in the Postwar U.S. 59 Chapter 3: The Gendered Manufactured Human During World War II 117 Chapter 4: Women, Science and Technology in the Postwar U.S. 164 Conclusion: The Importance of Archives 213 Works Cited 223 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Illustration for Camouflage 52 Figure 2: Advertisement in Le Vombiteur 126 Figure 3: Title image of the Sept. 1, 1938 issue of Science Fiction News Letter 130 Figure 4: Illustration for “X1-2-200” 138 Figure 5: Illustration for The Purpose 152 Figure 6: Illustration for Tomorrow’s Children 173 Figure 7: Illustration for “A Logic Named Joe” 182 Figure 8: Illustration for “A Logic Named Joe” 183 Figure 9: Cover of Nov. 1945 issue of The Voice of the Imagi-Nation 187 Figure 10: Cover of the Spring 1949 issue of The Fanscient 192 Figure 11: Illustration for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 192 Figure 12: Illustration for “Psycholorelei” 193 Figure 13: Illustration for “Out of Legend: Holda” 193 Figure 14: Illustration for “Liar!” 214 x INTRODUCTION In the summer of 2014, several news outlets breathlessly reported that a computer program had passed the Turing Test by successfully convincing human judges that it was a thirteen year old Ukraine boy. Experts in artificial intelligence later disputed the validity of the claim, but the news still caught the public’s imagination (“Computer AI”). Could machines think like humans? Could machines, someday, be human? Implicit in these questions is the perceived (lack of) differences between humans and machines. How we understand the human Self is dependent, in large part, on how we define what is not human. At their most basic, such questions must grapple with the ever-evolving relationship between humans and machines. Much scholarly work has been done on post-cybernetic relationships between humans and their technological tools, but these relationships predate the rise of networked, digital computing. The Turing Test itself was first outlined in 1950, and Turing’s own work with computational machines had begun more than a decade earlier. This earlier period, from just prior to World War II until 1950, has been relatively neglected by scholars interested in understanding the connections between humans and advanced machines. This dissertation seeks to fill in this missing history and argues that the 1940s was a crucial period in how the human-machine continuum was understood. Over the course of the decade, both portions of the human-machine relationship were revised by social and scientific developments. As science and technology became increasingly complex during this period, gender norms also experienced significant changes. This dissertation focuses on the U.S. science fiction community, especially the 1 portion linked to Astounding Science-Fiction , which largely embraced closer relationships with science and technology. However, this community also resisted attempts to redefine the human side of the relationship, especially in relation to gender. Over the course of the 1940s, Americans experienced numerous social and scientific changes, many of which had long lasting effects for both the U.S. and the rest of the world. The demands of the Second World War spurred scientific and technological innovation, leading to developments in diverse fields including radar, computing, and nuclear science.