Loving the Cyborg: A Posthuman Approach to the Love-Relationships between Humans and A.I. in The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke and the Movie Her by Spike Jonze

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Faculty of Languages, MSA University

Abstract

The theme of love has been presented in many classical works throughout time; however, in the current evolving times and with the existence of technology, love relationships have taken a turn from romantic relationships between humans to those between humans and machines. The paper aims to explore romantic relationships in the posthuman era. Prior research on the topic focused on the power conflict between humans and machines; other research focuses on Romanticism as an era reflecting on the idea of Posthumanism. However, with A.I. ethics into consideration, the current study focuses on the love relationships between man and machine, referring to the novel The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke and the movie Her by Spike Jonze. The paper focuses on how humans will lean more towards relationships with man-made beings that they could alter and adjust to fit their needs, rather than those with human beings who share their characteristics. This choice is argued to be due to humanity's attempt at seeking perfectionism and obsession with A.I. The paper investigates the nature of these relationships and the effects on the characters' lives to debunk the rationale behind the humans' infatuation with the machines. The research finds that due to the abandonment that occurs in the characters’ lives, they resort to AI-human relationships in order to fill a void in their lives, which usually leads back to the endless loop of abandonment and loneliness but also leads to emotional maturity.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics