VALENȚELE (RE)DUPLICĂRII. CONFIGURAȚII POSTUMANISTE LA PHILIP K. DICK ȘI IAN MCEWAN
VALUES OF (RE) DUPLICATION. POSTUMANIST CONFIGURATIONS IN PHILIP K. DICK AND IAN MCEWAN

Summary/Abstract: The present study aims to analyze the conceptual perspective on the metamorphosis of the human under the process of duplication and the restitution of the robotic hypostasis. Following the posthumanist theories, this paper focuses mainly on the literary manifestations that envisage the many-sided topic about the human identity’s surcease, namely Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Machines Like Me. In both cases, the central function of restructuring reality through the symobol of technological alterity is emphasized; the simulacrum comes within the purview of building versions for a universe where creation does not lead to progress, but, to a certain extent, to destruction and the entanglement of human conciousness. This fact implies that the fictional robots have to be interpreted as an integrant part of a system that ecompasses the lost sense of self. Essential for understanding the cited narratives is the questioning of the Cartesian belief that animals do represent a mechanical behaviour. I argue that the reconstruction of a techological identity bears a double scheme of approaching empathy and identity and accordingly the existence is to be interposed within new frames of thought.

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