The Convergence of Man and Machine: a Posthum...

The Convergence of Man and Machine: a Posthumanist Reading of Daniel H Wilson’s Robopocalypse

Author Name : Narinder Kumar

ABSTRACT

In the contemporary world, technology has become an increasingly important part of human life. Over the last few decades, a visible change has been seen in the attitude of people towards technology as they are progressively obliged to remain engaged with it in their day- to-day lives. The boundary between technology and human existence is getting blurred. This constant advancement, therefore, raises the need to redefine the meaning of human and human identity in the face of a techno-scientific landscape that has empowered us to create human-animal chimeras, genetically enhanced persons, uploaded consciousness, cyborgs and artificially intelligent robots. This formidable clasp of technology over the society, which is becoming more automated with each passing day, makes it inevitable to rethink and reassess the relationship humankind and technology share. This reassessment of the relationship between humankind and technology is being done by the newly emerging theory of post humanism. Post humanism marks a moment wherein the perpetual escalations of technological innovations stimulate the need of reconsidering human-machine relation. The present paper deals with Daniel. H. Wilson’s first techno-thriller Robopocalypse, published in the year 2011. The paper provides the glimpse of a post human world. It deals with an uprising of robots leading to a global war between humans and machines. It also brings about the possible repercussions of the incessantly advancing and progressing artificial intelligence.

Keywords: Technology, advancement, artificial intelligence, society, post humanism.