Naslov
Dreaming of electric sheep : technology and the construction of human identity

Autori
Matek, Ljubica

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Facing the crises : anglophone literature in the postmodern world

Urednik/ci
Matek, Ljubica ; Poljak Rehlicki, Jasna

Izdavač
Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Grad
Newcastle upon Tyne

Godina
2014

Raspon stranica
70-90

ISBN
1-4438-5395-X

Ključne riječi
identity, posthuman, transhuman, Philip K. Dick, cyborg, android

Sažetak
The paper aims to propose that the concept of human identity is increasingly being influenced by the inevitable interaction and connection with modern technologies, rather than direct human contact. According to Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? human contact is necessarily mediated or facilitated by machines. Similarly, in Simulacra and Simulation Baudrillard suggests that the real is no longer possible. What exists is the hyperreal, that is enhanced models of a real without origin or reality epitomized in the form of either the enhanced human or the “fake” one: the cyborg or the android. Dick’s novel is therefore less concerned with what is real and more with what is fake ; more precisely, it explores whether it matters being able to distinguish between what is real (human) and what is not. In this, we are moving toward a society that is both “posthuman” in its attempt to move beyond the traditional concept of “human nature” towards one that can more readily adapt to the contemporary technological and scientific knowledge, and “transhuman” in its attempt to use the available technologies in order to enhance human physical, intellectual and psychological abilities. By focusing on the purpose and the significance that the electronic devices have for Dick’s protagonists, the paper proposes to show that “mood organs” and “empathy boxes” represent not only an extension of the protagonists’ human bodies and minds, but also the very proof that they are human.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

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