Techno-Apocalypse: Analyzing Technocracy In Cat’s Cradle, Oryx And Crake, And Its Real World Antecedents

This thesis interrogates the relationship between technocracy and the destruction of the world in two contemporary works of speculative fiction, Oryx and Crake and Cat’s Cradle. The creation of technologies within a closed society and the asymmetries of power that develop from the distribution of technology lead to observable shifts in biological, social, and environmental realms. The development of this technocracy in the twentieth century is reflected in the maturation and expansion of science fiction, as writers within the genre attempt to criticize material and cultural elements of technocracy through their work. Vonnegut and Atwood display how a technocratic society leaves crippled environments and disabled, genetically altered, and abused bodies of human and non-human animals in its wake. The last chapter will discuss the negative effects of technocracy in the social realm, specifically turning to linguistic regressions, the dissolution of familial bonds, and the denial of subjectivity to those not involved in the creation, dissemination, and control of technologies. The variation in the technologies that Vonnegut and Atwood focus on, as well as the scope of the damage inflicted by their technocratic societies, reveal the historical realities of these authors situated in two distinct epochs.