Metamorphoses : the ancient, the modern, and the posthuman

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Title:	Metamorphoses : the ancient, the modern, and the posthuman
Other Titles:	傳統、現代和後人類中的變形
Authors:	朱璽叡;Chu, Xirui
Contributors:	淡江大學英文學系博士班蔡振興;Tsai, Chen-Hsing
Keywords:	變形;後人類;異合感;賽伯格;村上春樹;去疆域化;metamorphosis;posthumanism;cyborg;heterogeneous harmony;Murakami;deterritorialization
Date:	2016
Issue Date:	2017-08-24 23:31:46 (UTC+8)
Abstract:	本論文試圖用變形（metamorphoses）的觀點來看古代想像的變形、現代機械變形和後人類如何全面改造身體的變形，並逐漸與動物、機器及環境空間形成開放系統（an open system）。論文首先處理神話和文學中人類如何以化人主義（anthropomorphosis）的想像變形求生存、工業革命後人類如何依賴機器以及機器如何改變人類生活。其次，論文也探討哈樂崴（Donna Haraway）賽伯格（cyborg）概念如何影響文學研究。最後，我在論文中指出，莫拉維克（Hans Moravec）的離身性（disembodiment）數位化資料可為後人類帶出新的研究潛能。整體而言，論文共分五部分。導論涵蓋黑爾滋（N. Katherine Hayles）、哈樂崴（Haraway）、沃爾夫（Cary Wolfe）、貝明頓（Neil Badmington）等不同的後人類主義觀點。第一章除了探討古代、現代、及後人類的三階段變形外，便以古代的想像擬人變形為著眼點，以德勒茲的流變（becoming）概念來看《少年PI的奇幻漂流》（Life of Pi）的擬人化想象中的變形，並佐以達爾文（Charles Robert Darwin）質疑人類是否還有演化（variant）空間等相關問題。此外，本章也討論後結構主義學者如何提出不同於傳統西方哲學的變形思想，促使人重新思考人類、動物、機器、環境的關係。第二章以布洛姆坎普（Neill Blomkamp）執導的《第九禁區》（District 9）、《極樂空間》（Elysium）及《成人世界》（Chappie）三部電影，更進一步探討機械變形的演化。對我而言，布洛姆坎普的三部曲說明後人類的變形進化：由《第九禁區》中想像的變形，過渡到《極樂空間》裡後工業化賽伯格的現代變形，最後在《成人世界》裡體現出後人類釋放意識達到開放系統的變形。此三部曲的變形分別著重基因突變、人機合體和意識離身，符合本論文探討人類如何從古代、現代、後人類變形。論文第三章處理村上春樹（Haruki Murakami）的四部小說：《聽風的歌》（Hear the Wind Sing）、《1973年的彈珠玩具》（Pinball, 1973）、《尋羊冒險記》（A Wild Sheep Chas）和《舞・舞・舞》（Dance Dance Dance）。我將村上春樹這位日本後戰／後現代作家視為不折不扣的後人類小說家，並以他的「老鼠」四部曲為例，分析村上小說中人／機意念上的結合以及小說中後人類世代的人和機器之間的性關係，凸顯後人類小說中「異合感」（heterogeneous harmony）的重要特色。文末，我援用「去疆域」（deterritorialization）的概念處理環境空間突變後所形成的｢異質地理」（Heterotopias）。在此異質性空間中，人類、異生命和環境成為一開放系統。 This dissertation looks at metamorphoses—the ancient, the modern, and the posthuman—to see how human beings alter their bodies gradually to merge with animals, machines and the environment. The theme of altering bodies reappears imaginatively in myth, literature, and film, or scientifically in the laboratory. Altering bodies has become a phenomenon since the emergence of the posthuman concept in the late twentieth century and has had a great impact on human life. Since posthumanism is, by definition, elusive, and undergoes a maturing process, I therefore adopt a broader definition of it—a human-technology symbiosis—so as to see how humankind becomes interconnected with machines. In order to offer a clear idea of posthumanism, the dissertation tries to trace the dependence of humankind on the machine from ancient times, through Donna Haraway’s cyborg, to the prediction of Hans Moravec—an ultimate dream of transhumanism to upload human consciousness into the computer where humans can survive in disembodiment. Historically, posthumanism is derived from poststructualism which argues against modernism and humanism. Inspired by the ideas of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Gilles Deleuze who attempt to deconstruct western philosophy, this dissertation not only employs their theories to see how they influence posthumanism but also embraces technologies such as genetic engineering, computation, cybernetics, and Artificial Intelligence. Structurally speaking, this dissertation falls into five parts. In the Introduction, I look at some definitions of posthumanism in the light of N. Katherine Hayles, Haraway, Cary Wolfe, Neil Badmington, and other posthuman theoreticians. Chapter One discusses how human metamorphosis evolves from the ancient, through the modern, to the posthuman, with an attempt to explore how these transformations are tied in with anthropocentrism and the narrow-mindedness of rational science. For ancient metamorphosis, the Deleuzean idea of becoming is used to analyze Life of Pi as an example of ancient metamorphosis: anthropomorphosis. In Chapter Two, the trilogy of Neill Blomkamp’s movies—District 9, Elysium, and Chappie—will go one step further to deal with three metamorphoses: (1) the imaginary metamorphosis (DNA mutation in District 9), (2) the mechanical modern transformation (cyborg in Elysium), and (3) the posthuman metamorphosis of a body-free open system (consciousness uploading in Chappie). Blomkamp’s three movies epitomize the argument of how humankind steps into the open system, as suggested in the three metamorphoses in Chapter One. In Chapter Three, I discuss Haruki Murakami’s Rat Tetralogy: Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball, 1973, A Wild Sheep Chase, and Dance Dance Dance in terms of metamorphoses of humans, machines, and space in the posthuman age. Murakami presents a unique open system where the coupling of his protagonists with machines and sex in the posthuman condition are the two most salient features of his works. In this chapter, I will bring the Murakamian world of “heterogeneous harmony” to bear with the spatial de/reterritorialization and Foucault’s heterotopias so as to highlight the importance of the interaction of humans, the other, and the environment as an open system.
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