ABSTRACT
Advanced technologies, such as AI and genetic engineering, undermine the notions of the human in the humanist tradition, causing deep and subtle rifts in the social and affective fabric and in the human body’s bonds to nature. Examining narratives of artificial intelligence by Chinese science fiction writer Hao Jingfang, this chapter argues that digital and genetic reconstruction of humanoids erodes the human self-image and blurs the boundaries between human and machine. The creation of AI humanoids cancels out as well as foregrounds the essential needs of human emotional reciprocity and the ritual of working through the trauma of sickness and death. Under capitalism, artificial intelligence creates a neoliberal performative subject bent on success and productivity. The all-encompassing digital networks polarize society and manufacture consumer desire for profit, exerting a total control of the human mind and body. By denying death and humanly disturbing emotional qualities, artificial intelligence creates death in life.
