Speculating the Posthuman Scenario of Man vs Machines in Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano
Abstract
Science and technology have unarguably become a part of human life. The mundane life of every man has become dependent on technology that efficiently performs or reduces his labour. Posthumanism, a contemporary literary theory dealing with human, science and the universe warns on the over dependence of machines and labour reducing technologies. A technophobic perspective of posthumanism talks about innumerable unpredictable threats humans are liable to when they allow too much science and technology in their life/world. The imagination of technological threats in the future posthuman society is preconceived in Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction novel Player Piano. This paper explores the threats posed by machines in a technologically advanced posthuman world by exploring the chaotic situation in the Industrial society of Ilium in Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano.
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(Gray, 2000, p. 7).
Gray, 2013, p. 24-25).
(Sterling, 1994, p. xiii).
(Vint, 2007, p. 3).
(Vonnegut, 1981)
(Warwick, 1980, p. 116).
References
Gray, Chris H. (2000). Cyborg Citizen: Politics in the Posthuman Age. London: Routledge.
Gray, Chris H. (2013). Postmodern War: The New Politics of Conflict. London: Routledge.
Sterling, Bruce. (1994). Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. London: Harper Collins Publishers.
Vint, Sheryl. (2007). Bodies of Tomorrow: Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Vonnegut, Kurt. (1981) Player Piano. New York: Dell Publishers.
Warrick, Patricia S (1980): The Cybernetic Imagination In Science Fiction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Appendix A
Fear of losing human skill
The discussion of losing employment in Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano by implementing machines in a industry or any work place leads to think about the fear of losing human skill. Human beings like machines develop every generation by cultivating a set of skills which are natural. For instance, painting an art is a natural skill which could be replaced by a software that digitally create an art. Likewise, the photography skill of a human will deteriorate when the camera gets more enhanced modes to capture pictures. The vision of the photographer to capture innovative style of photos will decrease. So, the over advancement of any technology to perfect its purpose will unconsciously reduce the use and improvement of the skill of the user and the non-user. The machine advanced with a particular skill is feared to erase that skill in a human when it is overpowered and overused.
AUTHORS BIODATA
Dr. Suresh Frederick, is an Associate Professor and UG Head of English, Bishop Heber College, Trichy, India. He is the Dean of Research and Development. He holds a PhD in English from Bharadhidasan University. He has been conferred with an Hon. DLitt by IICM, Florida, USA. He has 30 years of teaching experience at the tertiary level. He has published 114 articles and edited 12 books. He has presented papers in many foreign countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Portugal and Ireland. To his credit, he has successfully guided 86 MPhil and 32 PhD candidates. He has been awarded Editor’s Choice Award for his Critical Writing by The Home of Letters (India) in 2010, Best Research Paper award for Literature in 2015, Life-time Achievement Award in 2018 (for producing 25 PhDs), Best Researcher Award by Bishop Heber College in 2020&21, and Indo-Asian John Milton Distinguished Literary Award, by REd Talks Daily International in recognition of consistent performance in English Literature in 2021.
J X Herbert is a PhD Research Scholar in English Literature from Bishop Heber College, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. His research interests are on Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction from different standpoints of literary philosophies and techniques. His research is partially surrounded by posthumanism theory that is relatable to the many humanist concepts of morals and ideas to rebuild the anthropocentric notion of man postulated hitherto. He has also been exploring the affiliation of transhumanism, a key concept of posthumanism with science fiction, especially with the speculative fiction of Kurt Vonnegut.
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