From Zero Degree to Eternal Life: Reflections on the Possibilities of Technology in Recent Argentine and Chilean Novels

Abstract

This paper analyzes four recent Latin American science fiction novels: three from Argentina (Plop by Rafael Pinedo, Un futuro radiante by Pablo Plotkin, Los cuerpos del verano by Martín Castagnet) and one from Chile (Synco by Jorge Baradit), in order to investigate the possibilities attributed to technology in terms of the social imaginary. Through the analysis, different options are outlined, ranging from the absolute absence of apparatus and progress in this area, to the great achievement of allowing the “soul” to reincarnate in new bodies. Despite this advance, in most of the stories the vision is negative and  what is configured is a technophobic image which makes visible, in the best case, its indissoluble link with capitalism, and, at worst, of its potential to  destroy the world.