Abstract

As a theoretical conjecture, transhumanism primarily focuses on the human being’s perennial quest to shred mortal limitations through the creation of an all-powerful machine via enhancement procedures. However, the effect of infusing basic human characteristics of empathy, passion, and integrity into artificially intelligent creatures has been explored by a few contemporary literary practitioners of transhumanism. Such representation complicates the liminal space between human and the transhuman with regards to the presence of the organic sensibilities of human psychology. The contested space further problematizes the discourse by questioning the viability, essentiality, and accuracy of transhumanist practices and the creation of artificially intelligent beings. The present study analyses two significant contemporary transhumanist narratives by Kazuo Ishiguro, titled Never Let Me Go (2005) and Klara and the Sun (2021), to show how the conflict between the biological and socioculturally constructed nature of humans is addressed by the novelist. The objective here is to show how the selected narratives theorize that the essence of being human need not necessarily lie with the physical form of human anatomy but rather with basic values like empathy, compassion, and benevolence, which is unique and unlikely to be replicated in the experiment-based intelligent machines produced through systematic empiric endeavors.