Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

In the last few years, Jeanette Winterson has discussed the limits and the evolution of technology, and how that may affect the human species; she has discussed posthumanism and transhumanism through fictionalised narratives that mirror our current society and what it could become. The aim of this paper is to outline her predictions for the consequences of the changes towards a fully automated future, which start with Rosi Braidotti’s theories and end with the idea of transcending transhumanism. This reading of Winterson is necessary because most of the studies that analyse her work are related to love, gender, and sexuality, which she also deals with in her work; but her proposals for the future of a humanity reliant on technology are still greatly understudied. This paper, thus, will attempt to fill a gap in research by doing a close reading of some selected works of hers which discuss the topic. In doing so, the main arguments for discussion that will help string her discourse together will be her conception of limits and how that affects the posthuman discourse, her view of the transition towards transhumanism and its possible consequences, and how to move forward from that. This paper will, thus, explore the purpose behind this unstoppable race towards becoming technology and will make sense of why it is impossible to alter its outcome.