The Moral Posthuman: An Examination of Human and Artificial Co-Existence in North American SF Discourse

Dissertation

• worked out by Ruxandra Teodorescu
• Cohort 1 (since 2022)

The Moral Posthuman: An Examination of Human and Artificial Co- Existence in North American SF Discourse

The dissertation project is located at the intersection of literary and cultural studies, critical posthumanism, artificial intelligence ethics, the philosophy of mind, and media studies and examines how literary, public, and scientific discourses map differentiated understandings of AI. Ruxandra investigates how human and artificial co-existence is depicted in literature and film and how these depictions challenge moral standards, thus pursuing a more  posthumanist approach to morality. This research looks at SF narratives about different forms of AI that interrogate terminologies such as sentience, consciousness, intelligence, and communication in order to show how literature can be a medium of debate and a form of exploration when it comes to different posthuman approaches to defining life.