Rape Culture Reborn: A Posthuman Perspective on Rape in Westworld

  • Maciej Czerniakowski The John Paul II Catolic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities
Keywords: artificial intelligence; critical posthumanism; rape; cyborg; artificial consciousness

Abstract

The main objective of the essay is to present the problem of granting the status of a person who enjoys all human rights to artificial intelligence if it manages to develop artificial consciousness at the level allowing it for reflecting upon itself and recognizing the fact that it is an entity which has its own subjectivity and the right not to be exploited. Assuming the perspective of critical posthumanism, which here draws on research conducted by Stefan Sorgner, Francesca Ferrando, and Neil Badmington, the Author tries to give a concise presentation of the issue, which may still be perceived as part of speculative discourse stimulated by science-fiction, but which – as the Author proves – seems to be gradually becoming part of our everyday world that humanity will have to deal with on both ideological and legislative ground.

References

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Published
2019-11-05
Section
Articles