| This thesis explores posthuman identity in two works of speculative fiction by Richard Powers: Galatea 2.2 and Plowing the Dark . Both novels depict specific examples of the posthuman condition, namely artificial intelligence and virtual reality. My reading of the novels involve applying aspects of cyborg theory, along with feminism and postructuralism. Specifically, I focus on the development of subjectivity in its relationship to technology. Technology comes into play in these novels in the shaping of identities and the (re)configuration of bodies. In my analysis of Galatea 2.2, I look at the development of identity taking shape in the form of artificial intelligence. In the analysis of Plowing the Dark, I explore the dynamics of virtual reality and the role its technology has on the user as being situated within a virtual ecology. Virtual technology serves as a means, then, to (re)examine humanist notions of epistemology and ontology. The novels exemplify a posthuman moment where an overall epistemic and ontological shift occurs, where humanist concepts come under new inquiry. |
