Contemporary and Historical References
The Killing Star makes several references to historic and contemporary people, places, and things. A few notables include the following:
We Are the World by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie - Six alien ships patrolling through the post-attack solar system continually broadcasted this song. It served both as a taunt to the pathetic survivors and as a carrier for computer viruses. The aliens chose this song partly because on April 5, 1985 it constituted the single strongest radio transmission ever sent from Earth. It also conveyed the disturbing impression that humanity might become a unified force to reckon with.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The aliens presented to two of the human survivors footage from several Star Trek episodes as examples of our fiction reflecting a deep rooted desire to dominate all other species.
Titanic - One of the survivors on Earth spent an inordinate amount of time in a virtual reality simulation of the Titanic. He tinkered with the program until, without knowing it, he made it sentient. Since the artificial intelligence was a representation of his mother, the AI convinced him to delete her so that he could get back to the business of living.
Jurassic Park - Dinosaurs, ancient flora, and even historical figures were cloned in the novel.
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Famous quotes containing the words contemporary and/or historical:
“Generally there is no consistent evidence of significant differences in school achievement between children of working and nonworking mothers, but differences that do appear are often related to maternal satisfaction with her chosen role, and the quality of substitute care.”
—Ruth E. Zambrana, U.S. researcher, M. Hurst, and R.L. Hite. “The Working Mother in Contemporary Perspectives: A Review of Literature,” Pediatrics (December 1979)
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)