The Artificial Creation of Life and What It Means to Be Human Caroline Mosser University of South Carolina
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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 6-30-2016 The Artificial Creation Of Life And What It Means To Be Human Caroline Mosser University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Mosser, C.(2016). The Artificial Creation Of Life And What It Means To Be Human. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3482 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Artificial Creation of Life and What It Means to Be Human by Caroline Mosser Bachelor of Arts Upper Alsace University, 2009 Master of Arts Upper Alsace University, 2011 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2016 Accepted by: Daniela Di Cecco, Major Professor Yvonne Ivory, Committee Member Rebecca Stern, Committee Member Susan Vanderborg, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Caroline Mosser, 2016 All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to those who have supported me throughout my graduate studies, leading to the present dissertation. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Daniela Di Cecco for her continuous support, patience, and guidance throughout this project. Her technical and editorial advice was essential for its completion. I would also like to thank the rest of my dissertation committee: Dr. Yvonne Ivory, Dr. Rebecca Stern, and Dr. Susan Vanderborg, for their encouragement and suggestions that were critical to the establishment of the necessary boundaries for a project that seemed, at first, too broad to be surmounted. I am grateful for the environment and the rich discussions that have been provided by the French Program, the Comparative Literature Program, and the Social Advocacy and Ethical Life Fellowship at the University of South Carolina. A special thank you is owed to my colleagues and fellow doctoral students who have listen to my numerous attempts to articulate my arguments and have provided useful criticism. Finally, I am grateful for my family, my friends, and my team for keeping me afloat during these five years. Their support, care, and faith in me have been invaluable. iii Abstract This dissertation is focused on the literary representations of the artificial creation of (human) life. This project is based on the belief that advances in bio-technologies have the potential to challenge core values of society and that literature offers a space to identify and address them before their actual appearance. While the texts studied do not provide actual answers to extremely complex moral questions, they offer a starting point for reflection. They question our morality in many ways, especially because they force us to think about who and what we are as human beings. This project is a study of the representations of artificial life as much as it is a study of society’s understanding of what it means to be human. In that respect, this project is indebted to the figure of the posthuman. Because this project is rooted in a discussion of actual scientific developments, I have chosen to take an historical perspective on the matter. In order to do so, I have identified four major scientific developments that have had tremendous consequences, not only in their respective fields but also on society: automation, vitalism, artificial intelligence, and cloning. I analyze the way these developments have been represented in literature and perceived by the general public, including discussions of relevant ethical issues. These ethical questions vary in scope (from the responsibility of the creator to society’s response) and in focus (economical, individual, etc.). Ultimately, the diversity of the representations of the posthuman leads me to propose a practice of posthuman ethics rather than an attempt to define who or what is “posthuman.” iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 A GENEALOGY OF THE CREATION OF LIFE ..................................................................9 THE ARTIFICIAL CREATION OF LIFE : A POSTHUMAN ENDEAVOR ? ............................19 SYNOPSIS ..................................................................................................................27 CHAPTER 1: THE RISE OF THE ANDROID : THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE ENSLAVEMENT OF THE MECHANICAL (W O)M AN ...............................................................31 FROM TOY TO MACHINE : THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATA ..................................34 EDISON ’S ANDRÉIDE : BETWEEN FACT AND FICTION .................................................44 CHOOSING THE IDEAL OVER THE REAL : A PROBLEMATIC DUALISTIC FRAMEWORK 51 CONCLUSION : THE ANCESTOR OF THE CYBORG .......................................................67 FIGURES ....................................................................................................................70 CHAPTER 2: THE DOUBLE -EDGED DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGY : EXPERIMENTATION , PROGRESS , AND ETHICS IN ROMANTIC SCIENCE : MARY SHELLEY ’S FRANKENSTEIN , A CASE STUDY ................................................................................................................................73 ROMANTIC SCIENCE AND THE STUDY OF MAN ..........................................................75 THE QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY ...........................................................................94 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................112 CHAPTER 3: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN -LIKE ROBOTS : WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CANNOT DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN MAN AND MACHINE ...............................114 v THE ROBOT ’S REBELLION : ROSSUM ’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS .......................................118 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ......................................................................................126 TESTING HUMANITY : SPECIESISM IN DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP ? ..129 THE UNCANNY VALLEY ..........................................................................................143 DREAMS OF HUMANITY ..........................................................................................147 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................153 FIGURES ..................................................................................................................155 CHAPTER 4: WHO AM I? WHAT AM I? A CLONE ’S QUEST FOR HUMANITY ......................156 FOCUSING ON YOUNG ADULT FICTION ....................................................................159 THERAPEUTIC CLONING : FROM SAVIOR SIBLINGS TO NEVER LET ME GO ...............165 SUBVERTING THE BILDUNGSROMAN : WHAT AM I? ..................................................178 REPRODUCING GENDER NORMATIVITY THROUGH THE FIGURE OF THE CLONE .......190 CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................193 CONCLUSION : TOWARDS A POSTHUMAN ETHICS ..............................................................195 WORKS CITED ...................................................................................................................207 APPENDIX A - SYNOPSES ..................................................................................................223 vi List of Figures Figure 1.1 Illustration of Vaucanson’s Golden Duck and Flute Player .............................70 Figure 1.2 The Mechanisms of Vaucanson’s Golden Duck ..............................................70 Figure 1.3 Wolfgang von Kempelen’s Chess Player ........................................................71 Figure 1.4 Pierre Jacquet-Droz’s Musician .......................................................................71 Figure 1.5 Thomas Edison’s Talking Doll and Phonograph..............................................72 Figure 1.6 1890 Advertisement for Edison’s Talking Doll ...............................................72 Figure 3.1 Mori’s Uncanny Valley Function ...................................................................155 Figure 3.2 The Uncanny Valley Conjecture, adapted from Mori ....................................155 vii Introduction In recent decades, bio-technologies have grown exponentially, giving rise to both hopeful visions of the future and a sense of discomfort regarding their possible consequences. The development of cloning technologies and the culture of cells and tissues have marked our cultural imagery because of the questions they raise: What does it mean to be human? What would be the status of a clone or of a being created in a laboratory? Is our society ready for