Cybernetic Identity, Technology & Human-Machine Discourse: A Posthumanist Reading Of The Surrogates

Abstract

A thorough reading reveals that Robert Venditti’s graphic novels provide fertile ground for a Posthumanist interpretation, notably in terms of cybernetic identity, technology, and human-machine dialogue. As a posthumanist science fiction, his The Surrogates and The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone engage thoroughly in a progressive society where the boundary or relationship between human and artificial intelligence becomes in Haraway’s term obsolete. Posthumanism, which challenges traditional humanist conceptions by combining technology and human consciousness, serves as a prism through which we may examine the intricate relationships between humans and their technological equivalents in these works. In this sense, Robert Venditti’s post-humanist graphic novel The Surrogates investigates the effects of modern technology on human identity, authenticity, and society. It explores the blurred barriers between humans and technology, challenging traditional self-identity, gender roles, embodiment, and authenticity.

This paper will analyse Robert Venditti’s The Surrogates through a Posthumanist perspective by focussing on the use of graphic novels to improve knowledge of ethical and philosophical questions in the contemporary postmodernist era, milieu, or culture.