RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINES - A comparative posthumanist analysis of interrelations between humanity and sentient machines
Author
Riisgaard, Martin
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2022
Submitted on
2022-01-03
Pages
59
Abstract
Vi møder ofte fortællinger om truende, syntetisk liv. Denne afhandling spørger, hvordan vi kan forstå og måske forberede os på at leve side om side med sådanne væsener. Den undersøger, hvordan forholdet mellem mennesker og følende (selvbevidste) maskiner skildres i to science fiction-romaner: Rudy Ruckers Software (1982) og Iain M. Banks’ Consider Phlebas (1987). Analysen bygger på en nærlæsning med en posthumanistisk ramme inspireret af N. Katherine Hayles’ How We Became Posthuman samt Anne Foersts overvejelser om “personhood” – altså hvem eller hvad der kan regnes som en person. Afhandlingen forklarer posthumanisme som en måde at udfordre skarpe grænser mellem mennesker, teknologi og maskiner. Med det udgangspunkt viser læsningen, at selv om de to romaner på overfladen ligner hinanden, opstår konflikterne især, når en grundlæggende grænse overskrides: det, forfatteren kalder krop/embodiment-polariteten. Med andre ord opstår stridigheder, når forestillingen om en kropsligt forankret eksistens brydes – for eksempel ved at sætte bevidsthed eller information over den fysiske krop. Afhandlingen peger også på, at en stærk vægt på bevidsthed som det afgørende kendetegn kan modvirke, at mennesker og syntetisk liv kan trives sammen. Samtidig erkendes det, at bevidsthed er et meget komplekst emne, som ikke kan behandles fyldestgørende inden for afhandlingens rammer.
We are often presented with stories about menacing synthetic life. This thesis asks how we might understand, and perhaps prepare for, living alongside such beings. It examines how relations between humans and sentient (self-aware) machines are portrayed in two science fiction novels: Rudy Rucker’s Software (1982) and Iain M. Banks’s Consider Phlebas (1987). The analysis uses close reading within a posthumanist framework informed by N. Katherine Hayles’s How We Became Posthuman, alongside Anne Foerst’s ideas about “personhood,” meaning who or what counts as a person. Here, posthumanism is used to question strict boundaries between humans, technology, and machines. From this perspective, the thesis finds that although the novels appear similar on the surface, conflicts tend to arise when a fundamental boundary is crossed—what the author calls the body/embodiment polarity. In plain terms, tensions emerge when the idea of a body-based, embodied existence is violated, for example by elevating consciousness or information over the physical body. The thesis also argues that treating consciousness as the primary measure of value can hinder humans and synthetic life from thriving together. It acknowledges, however, that consciousness is a highly complex topic that cannot be addressed in full within this work.
[This summary has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords
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