Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading and encourage others to develop this habit. In this episode, Kim introduces a short story by Poul Anderson called “Call Me Joe” that may remind you of a certain movie franchise with humans colonizing a land by impersonating the blue natives.
Call Me Joe (Collected Short Works) by Poul Anderson
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Transcript:
Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. You might know us from our YouTube channel, where we teach STEM topics like math, chemistry, biology, astronomy, computer programming. We’re looking to the future when we make our videos. And that’s why, very often, we find ourselves inspired by science fiction.
Before we go on—don’t you hate interruptions—there won’t be any more because this podcast is FREE from ads. That’s because it’s sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. Socratica Reads podcast is part of our Literacy campaign. You can learn more at socratica.org
This podcast came to be because I wanted to share this feeling, this idea—that all the books you read, all the ideas you come across in your life comingle and stew in your head, sometimes for years, before they emerge into something new.
Here’s a fun example, I think, of a book that must have, at least on some level, inspired a certain movie franchise about humans colonizing a land by impersonating the blue natives. This is “Call Me Joe” by one of the golden era sci-fi writers, Poul Anderson.
This is a short story that first appeared in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in 1957, so you might imagine kids consuming it and the images and ideas later influencing their creations. That’s what I’d like to think, anyway.
Call me Joe is about a group of scientists who are working on exploring Jupiter. They don’t land. They’re orbiting the planet, and they’re using some kind of telepathic remote control of an artificial body that is suited for life on this hostile planet with high gravity, where you take shelter in an ice cave and breathe hydrogen and helium, and drink methane.
The story has a few elements of its time—that can be a double-edged sword. I love that this is a book from the 50s the very start of the era of molecular biology, and that was part of the zeitgeist, the concept of genetics involving actual molecules. So here, Anderson is describing creating artificial life pretty convincingly. On the other hand, in this story there are no women except there’s some line about how they’re going to need housewives when they settle Jupiter? I don’t know, that’s depressing Poul, that’s a sad vision of the future, with no roles for women.
But the thing I love most about this story is how much this setting really does feel like a science lab. How the technology is falling apart, and needs constant tinkering. The main character, Anglesey, is very believably just a jerk. No one wants to work with him. But he has this special talent of creating a mental link with his artificial Jovian called Joe (uhhh I just got that). Those of us who have been around labs know just this kind of guy. We don’t like him, he throws tantrums, he’s a spoiled child, but there’s one thing he’s good at and we don’t want to risk the work so we put up with him.
What makes this story really interesting to me—why it’s SO much more interesting than the modern movies we’re getting on this theme that are all about conquering and pillaging an unspoiled planet—is that we get to experience what it’s like to transfer your consciousness and be a remote person. What is that going to do to you, psychologically. At some point, are you going to lose your humanity? Or at the very least, evolve into something different?
I’m going to share with you a passage when the “psionics” engineer arrives who will service the psychic control equipment and he meets Anglesey, so you can see him through his eyes. This is a chance to re-meet the main character. It’s an interesting device. Are you ready? Let’s begin.
{Kim reads excerpt}
If you’ve been going to sci fi movies and think that’s what sci fi IS, I encourage you to reach back into the archives and explore some of the early examples of sci fi writing. I think you’ll find it more challenging in a good way. Science fiction, at its heart, is not about the spectacle, and that’s where I think sci fi movies have lost their way. Good science fiction makes you think.
And if you enjoy thinking, and discussing what you’re thinking, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.
