Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Throughout the past century, social anxieties concerning the dangers of the scientific exploitation of nature have increased, including depictions of the dire consequences of robotic exploitation. While film and television have typically utilized this latter theme to focus upon the catastrophic consequences of humanity’s dependence upon technology, recent works have begun the task of decentering these human-centered narratives. Such a move largely entails consideration for what Kevin LaGrandeur describes as “the existential status of sentient androids” (118). If such humanoids are thought to possess a consciousness akin to that of humans, what rights should be afforded them? The post-humanist view, in positing that advancements in technology are altering the relationship between humanity and machine, challenges the underpinnings of the humanist ontological model. In postulating that humans are not naturally distinct from machines and are, therefore, not exceptional and deserving of a privileged, central position, post-humanism interrogates the boundaries traditionally thought to delineate a unique human essence. In this paper, I will analyze the blurring of these demarcations and its attending human efforts to patrol the border between the machine and human as are depicted in the science fiction program, “Westworld” (2016). My analysis will demonstrate how “Westworld” (2016) challenges the assumptions of anthropocentric theories of reality and human essentialism by emphasizing android subjectivity, the evolution of the android mind, robotic gender performativity, and the android desire for autonomy. In my analysis of the program, I highlight the ways this adapted narrative challenges essentialist claims of human exceptionalism and the implications of such challenges upon changing ideals concerning humanist thought and ontology.