Author: Nia Jones

When thinking about what I was going to write about for my final reflection on the Xenogenesis trilogy, I had no idea what to write about. I thought that I had figured it all out then, but of course, there was so much more to learn, so much more that I didn’t know about. I began to ask myself the essential questions in order to start writing down my true thoughts: do the Oankali still maintain authority over humankind? Yes. Since then, what has changed? A lot—too much if you ask the right person. Is this a constant theme in Butler’s other literary pieces? Yes! While reflecting on these questions, I realized that the Oankali’s relationship with humanity is quite complex. As I continued to reflect on Butler’s world-building in the Xenogenesis trilogy, I realized that the power dynamics between humans and the Oankali mirror our own societal struggles with authority, consent, and identity, especially in the context of evolution. Butler’s exploration of genetic manipulation across species connects to the advancement of artificial intelligence systems in our world today. Similar to the Oankali, AI systems have the ability to influence and shape our lives, sometimes without our awareness or informed consent. In this essay I aim to explore how Butler’s trilogy raises questions about control, consent, and ethics in an unfamiliar world that continues to demand change.

As the Xenogenesis trilogy continues to expand on its journey through the perspectives of 3 generations—Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs—both humankind and the Oankali have evolved in ways they may have deemed impossible at some point. Similar to the trilogy, everything grows to become something much bigger than themselves; humans, animals, plants, technology and this also includes artificial intelligence (AI), which has been reshaping industries for decades. Dating back to the early 1950s, the birth of AI saw pioneers like Alan Turing who created the concept of machine intelligence with the Turing Test. The Turing Test, a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equal to that of a human, was a fundamental contribution of AI as Turing paved the way for other mathematicians and computer scientists to build on his work. The evolution of AI has not only changed technological narratives, it has also changed a number of industries and the methods in how they operate and serve the public. 

In recent years AI has become more embedded into our everyday lives especially in industries such as education, healthcare, finance, communication, advertising, transportation and more. Although AI has provided us with more accessible information regarding healthcare, education, and communication, there are still moral and ethical implications that we must consider. Without taking the responsible measures, AI systems can take on more autonomous decision-making roles at the risk of algorithmic bias, lack of privacy and data security, and may result in job displacement as we have seen in recent years (Duolingo’s efforts to replace contractors with AI and become an “AI-first” company). As we have previously discussed, AI has the ability to exacerbate stereotypes or biases that remain present in our society and these 

In my previous essay, I said, “I do not doubt that the Oankali need to trade in order to survive as a species, but I do not believe that they are being 100% truthful in how they communicate that information to Lilith and other humans on the ship, which is frightening.” After reading the trilogy, I can confidently say that I was valid in my observations and suspicions of the Oankali’s intentions, as each person is faced with dishonesty by the hands of the Oankali species. 

Similar to AI, the Oankali are unable to live or operate without human interference. The Oankali need humans for breeding and gene-trading, meanwhile AI systems are dependent on human intelligence in order to mimic human abilities. Throughout the trilogy, the Oankali repeatedly insist that they are saving humanity from its own self-destructive and flawed tendencies that led to their initial destruction; but AI and the Oankali lack something that almost every human has demanded—informed consent. AI, like the Oankali, offers itself as a solution to human problems; disease, inefficiency, bias, and their “mismatched” genes that ultimately led to the nuclear war. However, both parties rely on a framework where consent is presumed, not offered or granted, but expected from those they demand it from. “‘Is it an unclean thing that I have made you pregnant?’ She did not understand the words at first… ‘You said you wouldn’t do this. You said—’ ‘I said not until you were ready.’ ‘I’m not ready! I’ll never be ready!’” (Butler 281) This is one of many examples throughout the trilogy that displays the Oankali justifying their actions without the consent of another party. Buolamwini’s documentation of facial recognition technologies misidentifying black women draws a parallel to the Oankali’s expectations and genetic manipulation of humans. “Besides facing erasure from machines, I have witnessed the symbolic annihilation of women of color and dark-skinned women. Symbolic annihilation describes the absence or lack of representation of a particular group.” (Buolamwini 253) Both parties—black women in particular, are not asked for consent, instead, consent is already expected, if not demanded by a technology deemed superior. The same occurs to the humans in the Xenogenesis trilogy as the Oankali have already established consent over the other party. 

By the time readers get to Imago, we are in Jodah’s perspective, and Earth takes a stark change as the Oankali, the dominant culture, continues to presume their journey of gathering humans to fit their dominant culture. The criticism surrounding the Xenogenesis trilogy as a defense for eugenics is prevalent in even the earliest of the trilogy, “There was a lot of work being done in genetics before the war. That may have devolved into some kind of eugenics program afterward.” (Butler 161) This narrative further continues when Jodahs meets Jesusa and Thomas, two siblings from a resistor village who represent the last of an autonomous human culture. The two siblings, along with the rest of their village, are riddled with neurofibromatosis after not being treated properly by the Oankali. “‘Why should you become more and more disabled?’ I asked. ‘Why should you die when you can live and be well? Let me help you.’” (Butler 111) The main conflict “Complete erasure is one way to “invisibilize” a group, yet inclusion that builds on stereotypical representation can also be harmful. It is not enough just to be seen if you and people like you are rendered in disempowering terms or through disempowering frames.” (Buolamwini 253) The Oankali’s efforts to reshape humanity and help them evolve reflects the biases of those who built these systems.“Time spent on the work I had been postponing in an effort to educate the public about algorithmic bias was now being delayed to educate the public about erasure.” (Buolamwini 251) In Butler’s world, the Oankali’s genetic trade enforces a new order that fundamentally rewrites what it means to be human. Yet, there is continuous resistance and reinvention from the likes of Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs, each resisting and negotiating power, identity, and legacy in their own way. 

But we must also consider the futures that are possible because of Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs, who spent decades, centuries even, providing future generations of humans and human-Oankali constructs with an opportunity to choose a different fate than what they were dealt with before the war. “The ironic stigma of being a dropout hung in my mind, but more importantly, the legacies of so many people who made this choice possible permeated my thoughts. What did I owe the past? What did I owe the future? What did I owe myself?” (Buolamwini 245) Although each character resisted change in their own way, they used each resource they had as a platform for justice. In closing, Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy and Buolanwini’s Unmasking AI confront the consequences of power that goes unchecked. The Oankali and AI systems are eerily similar as they present themselves as saviors of species and society. In doing so, they operate through domination, forced assimilation, and the erasure of previous cultures. Butler and Buolamwini force us to confront the decisions that are made for us, including why these decisions were made and how they directly impact us as a society that is slowly losing its own individuality. In Butler’s trilogy, figures like Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs show resistance by insisting that these decisions should not be made for them, but with them. Butler and Buolamwini urge readers to demand informed consent, accountability, care, and overall social change.

Octavia Butler’s Dawn puts the reader in a compromising position where they question the validity of the Oankali’s relationship with the human body and mind. The unsettling relationship between the Oankali, Lilith, and other humans on the ship reminded me of a course I was a teaching assistant for with Dr. McCoy in Fall 2023—ENGL 111: Literature, Medicine, and Racism. In this course, we regularly discussed topics of good faith versus bad faith decisions, consent, racism, systems of power, and–of course–Octavia Butler. As a class, we read popular fiction pieces such as Home by Toni Morrison, Zone One by Colson Whitehead, and Clay’s Ark by Octavia Butler and we connected these pieces to Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington. Medical Apartheid is a historical non-fiction book that follows the dark history of medical experimentation on Black Americans from the Colonial times into the present. Washington goes into deep, disturbing detail of the medical abuse and mistreatment of Black bodies that are now embedded into our medical systems. 

These experiments were often conducted without the full consent of the person being experimented on. The relationship between the Oankali and the humans is not an equal one, but it resembles that of a slave/master companionship. On the surface, the Oankali are a nomadic, gene-trading extraterrestrial species who have saved the human species from their own demise. The Oankali play the role of the masters, the oppressors, the colonizers. The human race plays the role of the enslaved, the oppressed. Jdayha explains to Lilith that the Oankali need to trade in order to survive. Jdayha, in particular, dances around Lilith’s questions surrounding the topic of the Oankali’s “trade” with other species and how it works, what is required, etcetera. I do not doubt that the Oankali need to trade in order to survive as a species, but I do not believe that they are being 100% truthful in how they communicate that information to Lilith and other humans on the ship, which is frightening. 

The dialogue between Oankali and Lilith is filled with half-truths, assumptions, and other narratives that do not give Lilith proper autonomy over her own decisions. “In a very real sense, she was an experimental animal. Not a pet. What could Nikanj do for an experimental animal? Protest tearfully (?) when she was sacrificed at the end of the experiment? But, no, it was not that kind of experiment. She was intended to live and reproduce, not to die. Experimental animal, parent to breeding program? Human biologists had done that before the war—used a few captive members of an endangered animal species to breed more for the wild population. Was that what she was headed for?” (Butler 67). The Oankali have an ulterior motive to their gene-trading activities. They saved humanity from itself, and the remaining human population, though fearful of the extraterrestrial race, are indebted to the Oankali. 

The humans are then expected to share their genetic information in order to help both the humans and the Oankali to evolve their species. Although this will lead to the survival of both species, it strikes an insidious and eerie forms of control, power dynamics, and repulsion between the two species. Thus, causing other humans (Curt, Peter, Tate, Leah, etc.) to question the validity of the Oankali and Lilith, who is caught in the crossfire of the Oankali’s elaborate trading system. When Nikanj impregnates Lilith without her acknowledgement, he makes an example out of Lilith to the remaining human population, who may soon serve the same purpose as Lilith.

Dawn is a thought-provoking novel that questions human nature and behavior, power dynamics, control, and identity. Butler is fearless in implementing themes of power. Butler’s writing is eerily reminiscent of what is occurring today. There are discussions of altering the historical curriculum of Black history in schools nationwide, especially in Florida. Certain aspects of Black history will be rewritten in attempts to control narratives regarding race, white supremacy, and oppression. Florida is the first state to celebrate that students will be learning that the enslaved benefited from slavery because it “taught them useful skills.” To which I thought: what makes the Oankali any different from the legislators who are putting these standards into place? The restrictions on African American history in Florida schools is about having power and control over knowledge. Limiting these teachings aims to control a narrative and introduce a new and untrue belief about the past and its current and future impacts. The Oankali, in similar fashion, control the fate of humanity and aim to modify human genes to create a hybrid species. They view humanity as something that needs to be “fixed” in order to survive, their intervention is their way of controlling humanity’s history and identity based on the belief that their current state is flawed.

Although the Oankali do not directly express this, I believe that they have a desire to reshape and control the human population’s history and identity. The Oankali act as an example of outsiders intervening to ‘fix’ the human race and altering their history and identities because they are too flawed to exist in their current form. To further this point, Jdayha tells Lilith that the human body is ‘flawed’ and ‘mismatched,’ “Your bodies are fatally flawed… You have a mismatched pair of genetic characteristics. Either alone would have been useful, would have aided the survival of your species. But the two together are lethal. It was only a matter of time before they destroyed you.” (Butler 40). The Oankali control the fate of humanity in their hands by modifying human genes and creating a hybrid species. The Oankali’s belief that humanity needs to be reshaped reflects their view of humanity’s inability to exist peacefully with one another without external interference. 

The Oankali see which humans are fit to be Awakened, they refuse to let humans read or write, and Nikanj impregnates Lilith without her knowledge OR consent. The Oankali give many excuses throughout the text to defend their questionable teaching methods, “You’ll Awaken a small group of humans, all English-speaking, and help them learn to deal with us. You’ll teach them the survival skills we teach you. Your people will all be from what you would call civilized societies. Now they’ll have to learn to live in forests, build their own shelters, and raise their own food all without machines or outside help.” (Butler 34). It seems that the human race upon this ship are at the beckon call of the Oankali, and they are useless without them. The human race has no authority over their own bodies, what happens with it, and how it will be used to benefit the Oankali is not up to them. 

Before I started this essay, I struggled to find resources to support the claim that AI can be used in good faith. Articles are riddled with Pros and Cons of constantly consuming AI tools, leaving me a tad burned out. I decided to try to clear my head and finished a reading assignment I had for another course. By the time I finished reading the scholarly article I realized that I didn’t understand a single thing I had just consumed. “Autonomy of Affect” by Brian Massumi was an interesting, yet jarring, scholarly article where Massumi claims that emotions are the result of a subtractive process. To my defense, my professor warned us that this reading was a “challenging read,” so I gave it a shot and was surprised when I struggled to understand Massumi’s advanced writing style. 

This realization brought me back to this essay. I quickly opened up ChatGPT and asked it to explain “Autonomy of Affect” by Brian Massumi in simpler terms. ChatGPT gave me a short, yet brief, summary of Massumi’s article and it actually helped me understand the material better. I was a bit skeptical to trust this AI tool, but it was successful in helping me comprehend the material that I spent 30 minutes attempting to analyze. AI is a revolutionary tool, but it should not be abused regularly if another solution can be reached. If we, as individuals, choose to use AI tools, we should use them responsibly by ensuring we do not cross into plagiaristic territory.

Being a student is not the easiest task. We spend a lot of time analyzing complex articles and other works in order to show how we understand and interpret the material. But, sometimes even the broadest of scholarly articles can cause a drift in understanding between professors and students. While conducting my research, I found a number of articles to support that students do, in fact, use AI tools with good intentions. “How are college students using AI tools like ChatGPT?” (Teagan Davidge) asked nine California colleges and universities: “Have you or someone you know used ChatGPT or another AI tool to complete a college assignment? Can you share what the assignment was, and if using AI was approved by your professor.” One student mentioned that he was a premium ChatGPT subscriber and further stated that he “finds it most helpful for summarizing readings.” (Davidge 2024). Another student claimed they used AI for an outline that they were having difficulty with. Many of these students believed that their institutions and professors should implement more assignments that are AI-friendly while others were unsure how they felt about AI in academia.

The use of AI tools by students is almost unavoidable. Whether a student chooses to use AI to understand a math concept better or to plagiarize a response paper is ultimately up to the user in question. Universities are cracking down on students who openly use AI technologies to cheat, but they are also trying to adapt to the fact that these technologies may become more advanced and widely available for all kinds of purposes. “Students Speak: How We Use Artificial Intelligence” (EdTech Staff) follows two undergraduate students (Louisiana State University and University of North Carolina Greensboro) who shared their experiences with AI after its sudden popularity within the last year. For example, LSU has already integrated AI-generated instruction and learning for students, including an AI-powered tutoring system that can assist students with a variety of subjects. Students have reported that the system is helpful and effective as the AI tool is structured to help students with their specific needs. In 2020, UNC Greensboro launched an AI chatbot named Minnie. The chatbot is a quick and easy way to help students who may struggle with finding resources on campus. It has caused a decrease in emails and calls, and has left students and university workers feeling supported and uplifted.

ChatGPT may remain a useful tool for students and professors alike, especially those who find it beneficial to summarize documents, check grammar, create a draft, brainstorm ideas, conduct research and so much more. Institutions are becoming more flexible and cautious to the idea of AI within the classroom and with assignments. As we have previously discussed, AI tools can be useful, but we must learn how to properly use the resources that are available to us with good faith in mind. Students and professors are not well-equipped to understand AI tools; but they can be. Encouraging students to use AI responsibly can be more rewarding than punishing them for a tool that may have assisted them in the past. The creation and use of AI training for both faculty and students on the effectiveness of AI tools could help both parties enhance their AI literacy without fear of being ridiculed for using an easily accessible platform. AI tools may become more advanced and could aid educators as they teach the next generation of students. We cannot be sure that all users exploit AI in bad faith. There will be those who use artificial intelligence in good faith or bad faith, and as scholars who are working to adapt to these technologies, we have to acknowledge that fact. “Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies: A Quickstart Guide” by Jennifer Sano-Franchini, et. al describes it best, “Ultimately most metaphors we apply to our understanding of this new technology are limited—both helpful and potentially dangerous—in informing our understanding as we risk both underestimating and overestimating the constructive and destructive potential of this technology as well as the ethical dimensions of its use” (Sano-Franchini, et. al.; Anderson 2). AI is an advanced tool that can also give us misleading information and can put many in compromising situations. Artificial intelligence has a diverse purpose and can be used in just as many beneficial ways as harmful; it is, however, up to the user to decide how they will choose to use AI tools in the future. It is safer to conduct more research than to rely solely on one source.