In the previous Module we saw how unexplored places, the frontier and new cultures, can be used to make comments about our own society.

In this Module, we're going to look at a group of stories that deal with even more basic differences and definitions. Science fiction, as you know, often deals with alien races from other planets, and human encounters with them. When SF writers present less-than-human, or more-than-human, or any way different-from-human, beings, they always imply the basic definitional question...What is human?

What makes a person a person? Is a cat a person? A dog? (my dog, Jerry, thinks he's a person, but he doesn't make very intelligent conversation) Most of us agree that there's a difference between humans and animals, but it wasn't too long ago, right on this planet, that certain human beings were defined as being "less-than-human" or "animals" (check ...or ).

The question of what makes a person is an important one, and when we read about alien creatures, we read about our responses to these creatures, how we treat them and how they treat us. These stories can make us think and possibly understand better the assumptions and the fears we have about the beings who share our universe.

Go to the discussion board and give your definition of a person, and respond to your classmates'.