Presenter: Hayden Stewart – History
Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. Andrea Goering
Session: (In-Person) Oral Panel—Comics, Classics and Analysis
In his introduction to “Sun Songs: Creation Myths from Around the World,” Raymond Von Over writes, “The myths of ancient mankind attempted to resolve such profound and confusing questions, and therefore when reading myths we experience not so much an emotional insight as a sensation of watching something marvelous grow in the mind of early mankind.” It is my belief that science fiction, in its most scientific and cerebral form, is the evolution of the creation myth. A story that symbolizes the question of “where are we going?” rather than “from where did we come?” It is that same growth of something marvelous growing in our minds, but now instead of then. My presentation includes a story that I wrote. It takes place during the Heat Death of the Universe, on the final abode of humankind. It is meant to be a meditation on how far away storytelling can take us, and what it can show us capable of achieving. Much like how the creation myths of our past told of what was before us, and how and why we came to be, this story aims to tell what will come after us, how, and why we should care about so distant a future. Along with the aforementioned text by Raymond Von Over and the myths it contains, I’ll be drawing from works by Isaac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin, and consensus timelines of the eventual fate of the universe. It’s my hope that this collection of ideas can add to the conversation of the importance of art for human self-conception and scientific/philosophical progress.