Abstract
Mediated interaction, integration with technology and other aspects of the (post)modern world have led to a refined sense and notion of self. Science fiction takes the notion of fragmentation of identity and multiple selves to the extreme in stories of simulation, uploaded personalities and changes to the physical substrate. Using examples from cutting-edge SF writers like Charles Stross and Greg Egan, I examine how science fiction presents a literal discussion of identity in a possible future age of changed humanity as well as a metaphorical treatment of the present-day experience of changed identity.
Stig W. Jørgensens holds a PhD in computational linguistics and is a former employee of Copenhagen Business School, Bingham University and University of Copenhagen. He now works as a free-lance consultant.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Banks, I. M. (1987). Consider Phlebas. London: Macmillan.
Delany, S. R. (1984). Stars in My Pockets Like Grains of Sand. New York: Bantam Books.
Egan, G.. (1992). Closer. Eidolon, 8.
Egan, G. (1994). Permutation City. London: Orion.
Egan, G. (1997a). Diaspora. London: Gollancz.
Egan, G. (1997b). Reasons to be cheerful. Interzone, 118.
Egan, G. (2008). Incandescence. London: Gollancz.
Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books.
Giddens, A. (1999). Runaway world. London: Profile Books.
Jameson, F. (1984). Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism. New Left Review, 146, 51–92.
Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press.
Fukuyama, F. (2004). Transhumanism. Foreign Policy, Special report. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2004/09/01/transhumanism. Accessed Apr 2013.
Kurzweil, R. (1999). The age of spiritual machines. New York: Viking Press.
McKibben, W. (2003). Enough: Staying human in an engineered age. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
McLuhan, M. (1967). The medium is the massage: An inventory of effects. New York: Bantam Books.
Moravec, H. (1998). Robot: Mere machine to transcendent mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Robinson, K. S. (2012). 2312. London: Orbit Books.
Standage, T. (1998). The Victorian Internet: The remarkable story of the telegraph and the nineteenth century’s on-line pioneers. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.
Stross, C. (2005). Accelerando. New York: Ace Books.
Stross, C. (2010). Accelerando Intro. Blog post. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html. Accessed Apr 2013.
Tegmark, M. (1998). Is ‘the theory of everything’ merely the ultimate ensemble theory? Annals of Physics, 270(1), 1–51.
Tegmark, M. (2008). The mathematical universe. Foundations of Physics, 38(2), 101–150.
Thompson, J. B. (1995). The Media and Modernity. A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Toffler, A. (1970/1971). Future shock. New York: Bantam Books.
Ulam, S. (1958). Tribute to John von Neumann. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 64, 1–49.
Vinge, V. (1993). The coming technological singularity: How to survive in the post-human era. Whole Earth Review, Winter issue. Also available online: https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/vinge/misc/singularity.html
Williams, W. J. (1997). Lethe. Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, September issue, pp. 114–144.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jørgensen, S.W. (2017). Our Serial (and Parallel) Selves: Identity in the Age of the Transhuman. In: Baron, C., Halvorsen, P., Cornea, C. (eds) Science Fiction, Ethics and the Human Condition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56577-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56577-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56575-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56577-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)