Toward Posthumanism: Stigmatization of Artificial Intelligence in American Science Fiction

Abstract

Posthumanism has become an important theme in science fiction (SF), and American SF is a significant popularizer of this genre in the modern world. The advocacy of a dystopian future in American SF has led to the stigmatization of artificial intelligence (AI). It has presented AI as a threat to humanity and has reduced it to a mere enemy of humanity in a posthuman future. The cyberpunk culture of SF plays a vital role in ostracizing AI, with many stories centered around an AI takeover where humans face the dilemma of extinction in the face of a technologically advanced world. This article deals with Philip K. Dick’s dystopian novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in the light of Goffman’s theory of stigmatization as the theoretical basis, using Link and Phelan’s stigmatization model to build the argument. The article focuses on the possible stigmatization of AI in American SF and its ethical and societal impacts. It is part of the continuum of knowledge production in SF, Cyberpunk, and techno-optimistic science fiction.