Serial Number: http://www.riss.kr.proxy.cau.ac.kr/link?id=A106889304

Title: Some Perspectives on the Era of Artificial Intelligence reflected in Huxley’s Novel Brave New World: Focusing on Body

Author: Park Hwan-Young

Journal:  The Korean Society of Culture and Convergence

Vol: 42(5)

Pages: 855-887

Date: 2020.

Register Information: KCI

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<Abstract>

Artificial intelligence is probably one of the most common issues in 21st century. For example, we are often confronted by new vocabularies such as Fourth Industrial Revolution, Deep Learning, Big Data, AlphaGo and Autonomous Driving which are closely linked to artificial intelligence through various mass media in everyday life. This means that in contemporary society, artificial intelligence is in high demand; hence, it is usually considered an icon and symbol of not only the most advanced technology but also the most efficient and creative invention for human societies. However, some warnings and alerts have also been raised about the gradual replacement of every aspects of all human spheres by artificial intelligence to sustain social and cultural values such as kinship, social rituals and religion in traditional human societies. In that sense, Huxley’s early 20thcentury novel Brave New World reflects the importance of these social and cultural elements in traditional human societies. Thus, in this paper, I analyze some perspectives on the era of artificial intelligence that are embedded within Huxley’s novel, focusing on the “body”. As far as kinship is concerned, cybots do not have a kinship network. This is because cybots are normally manufactured like machines in large quantities, whereas humans are bound together with kinship either by birth (consanguineal kinship) or by marriage (affinal kinship). Along the same lines, in Huxley’s description of mass reproduction, most babies are born through artificial insemination and are classified into five social classes through the manipulation of genes as well as the developmental environment. Therefore, the future humans in Huxley’s novel do not establish kin memberships such as father, mother, son, and daughter. Thus, they do not keep equivalent kinship terms. In comparison, the aborigines in Huxley’s novel maintain traditional human values such as kinship and kinship terms. In addition, as far as social rituals and religion are concerned, the future human society in Brave New World shows that all humans share everything with other humans; thus, every man can love every woman and vice versa. There exists neither marriage nor any restrictions. In addition, Huxley’s novel portrays death as a cheerful moment, where corpses are cremated and only leave phosphorus fertilizer for the soil. Hence, future humans do not share feelings of awe towards the human spirit and ancestor worship. In this context, future humans in Brave New World currently look like cybots. In other words, we usually believe that the bodies of cybots do not consist of symbolic elements of human kinship, such as bone, blood and flesh. Furthermore, in traditional societies, the human body is often cosmologically divided into the physical body and the spirit after death. Last, Huxley’s novel Brave New World could raise a fresh alarm in the era of artificial intelligence, that is, artificial intelligence is continuously developed to provide ultimate efficiency and convenience for humans. However, like the civilized human society in Brave New World, the immoderately fast-growing development of artificial intelligence in contemporary society will bring a deterioration of humanity and of traditional human values such as kinship, rituals, and religion.