Tech Anxiety : Artificial Intelligence and Ontological Awakening in Four Science Fiction Novels

This project examines the representation of anxiety about technology that humans feel when encountering artificial intelligences in four science fiction novels: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Neuromancer, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Cloud Atlas. By exploring this anxiety, something profound can be revealed about what it means to be a person living in a technologically saturated society. While many critical investigations of these novels focus on the dangerous and negative implications of artificial intelligence, this work uses Martin Heidegger's later writings on technology to argue that AIs might be more usefully read as catalysts for a reawakening of human thought. This Project Examines The Representation Of Anxiety About Technology That Human Subjects Feel When Encountering Artificial Intelligences In Four Science Fiction Novels. By Exploring This Anxiety, Something Profound Can Be Revealed About What It Means To Be A Person Living In A Technologically Saturated Society-- Heideggerian Technology Studies -- Hal As Human Savior In Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey -- The Dangers Of Individualism And The Human Relationship To Technology In Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Ais, Hatred Of The Body, Cyborgs, And Salvation In William Gibson's Neuromancer -- David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas: Cloned A.i.s As The Leaders Of An Ontological Insurrection. Christopher A. Sims. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Acknowledgments 7 Table of Contents 8 Introduction 10 1. Heideggerian Technology Studies 28 2. HAL as Human Savior in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey 78 3. The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology in Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 119 4. AIs, Hatred of the Body, Cyborgs and Salvation in William Gibson's Neuromancer 148 5. David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas: Cloned AIs as Leaders of an Ontological Insurrection 187 Conclusion 232 Notes 241 Bibliography 244 Index 249 "This project examines the representation of anxiety about technology that human subjects feel when encountering artificial intelligences in four science fiction novels. By exploring this anxiety, something profound can be revealed about what it means to be a person living in a technologically saturated society"-- Provided by publisher