Research Information System
Turkish Studies (Elektronik), vol.13, no.18, pp.251-262, 2018 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
The domination of the future by robots who have artificialintelligence and the possibility of the increase in their populationrepresent a situation which may create danger for people. For this reason,killing a robot with which a human-being is having a clash may create amore liveable environment for the humans who are a minority on earth.The main character of the aforementioned book, the TranshumanistWager, is Jethro Knights and the main character of the other book, DoAndroids Dream of Electric Sheep? Is Rick Deckard, and they bothdescribe the conflict and duties throughout their own stories.Eventhough the first book’s main character Jethro Knights isrejected because of his writings and research on Transhumanism, andhe even loses his lover for the sake of this search, he overcomes all theobstacles while searching for his purpose in life. He wants to build hisland, Transhumania, and to achieve immortality. The other work's maincharacter Rick Deckard who lives on a place similar to Transhumania (itis called ‘Mars’ in the book), inhabits a world where artificial intelligencerobots do not serve humanity any more for they work for the disadvantageof humanity in a war zone. The story takes place on a planet whereartificial robots fight for their lives and a war between the 'real andartificial' takes place for the welfare of Earth. While underlining thedifferences between the terms ‘real and virtual’, his war and conflictagainst the robots is reflected onto the reader.This study analyses the desire for immortality and the creation ofartificial intelligence in these two literary works, Do Androids Dream ofElectrics Sheep? by Philip K. Dick and The Transhumanist Wager byZoltan Istvan. The desires for immortality of the main caharacters of two bookshave positive enduring lives for humans or human-like robots in theirchaotic atmospheres. The challenging stories of them make thecharacters more enthusiastic. Their desires are just some of the pieces ofTranshumanistic life or lives. The differences and similarities help thereader see and understand various sides of Transhumanism. Also, thereflection of Transhumanism onto other selected literary works isexamined. In this study, Philip K. Dick and Zoltan Istvan’s maincharacters are shown as desiring for creating new lives by creatingimmortality in chaotic atmospheres for human and human-like robots.The differences and similiarities of the main characters presentTranshumanizm with different examples to the reader.