From Owner To Family

Ted Chiang is an outstanding representative of contemporary Chinese American science fiction writers.In The Lifecycle of Software Objects,Chiang conceives a new lifeform,“the digients”.The focus of the novella lies in the major events in the digients’ life brought by humans’ different acts and attitudes.It depicts the living dilemma of the digients and explores the theme of constructing human-AI ethical relations in the information age.Emmanuel Levinas proposes “the absolutely other” concept in “the Other” ethics,aiming to deconstruct the totalized and oppressed “relatively other” in Western holistic philosophical system.“The absolutely other” with infinite “face” gives ethical commands to the subject,calls for the subject to respond to these commands and to take responsibility for “the Other”.Based on Levinas’ “the Other” ethics,the thesis firstly analyzes the digients as “the absolutely other”,including its radical alterity,infinite“face”,and two ethical commands to humans.Then,it focuses on different attitudes and acts of humans when faced with these commands from “the absolutely other”.One is the irresponsible act of “authoritative owners”.The other is the responsible act of“the responsible I”.On this basis,the thesis also tries to find out a feasible way for building a shared culture for humans and AI.The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter 1 basically introduces Ted Chiang and the novella The Lifecycle of Software Objects and reviews previous studies of the author and the novella both abroad and at home.It also clarifies Levinas’ unique insights on“the Other” philosophy by combing theories of “the Other” in Western tradition since Descartes.Chapter 2 analyzes the digients’ identity as “the absolutely other” in The Lifecycle of Software Objects.On the one hand,the digients are the “strong AI” with higher cognitive abilities and transcend the “weak AI”,“the relatively other”.On the other hand,the digients as “the absolutely other” paralyze their original identities as digital pets and commercial goods.Along with their infinite “face”,the digients give two ethical commands to humans: expecting non-violence and becoming legal persons,fighting against humans’ abuse and for their rights to live independently.Chapter 3 analyzes humans’ identity as “the absolute authority”.On the one hand,irresponsible humans control the digients’ experiences and memories and even commit“murder” to them.The neglect of legal protection to the digients’ indulges humans’ murderous acts at some extent.On the other hand,the responsible owners respond to the digients’ commands by instructing the digients with human experience and giving them parent-like companionship and care.Chapter 4 explores the ways of building a shared culture for humans and AI.It firstly reclaims Chiang’s AI imagination and crisis awareness reflected in The Lifecycle of Software Objects.Meanwhile,combined the concept of “the absolutely other”,it reflects on the feasibility of constructing the culture of AI by human-AI interaction and coexistence and its integration with human culture.Chapter 5 focuses on the the construction of ethical relations between the subject and “the Other” and the shared social responsibility of both sides under the guidance of Levinas’ “the Other” ethics.The digients contain Chiang’s assumptions for AI development and his reflections on the ethical relations of humans and technology.It points out that humans should reflect on how to take responsibilities for technical artifacts in human-machine ethical relationship.Humans and AI should construct a community of shared future in the information age based on mutual trust and collaboration,so as to alleviate humans’ technophobia and realize the development of both technology and human society.