The Confusionof Identities Under Cyberspace

Canadian-American science fiction novelist William Gibson pioneered the concept of cyberspace,and in his debut novel Neuromancer,he also created the cyberpunk literary genre in the field of science fiction,therefore he was considered as “the father of Cyberpunk”.His genius style of writing and sharp philosophical thinking give science fiction a new texture and thickness,and his works are worthy of careful reading by scholars at home and abroad.As the debut novel written by Gibson,Neuromancer won the “Hugo Award”,the“Nebula Award” and the “Philip K.Dick Award” as soon as it was published.This record has not been broken so far.In addition,it was also awarded “the 100 best English novels since1923” and “Cyberpunk Bible”.The story of the novel is based on cyberspace and all the characters in the novel are the products of technological transformation.Its protagonist,Case,is a hacker who,in order to re-enter the cyberspace,connects his nervous system with the global computer network,and becomes a cyborg that is integrated with man and machine and manipulated by technology.His companions Molly and Corto,a former Special Forces General,are transformed by artificial intelligence Wintermute under cyberspace into emotionless and machine synthetic killers.In the novel,there are also genetically modified humans,clones,and so on.Whether cyborgs,genetically modified humans or clones,they are collectively referred to as post-humans.The description of the characters in the novel reveals the confusion of post-humans’ identities under cyberspace.Throughout the whole novel,the technological alienation and technology in enslaving are revealed between the lines.Based on these,this thesis develops a new angle from the sci-tech ethics,especially starting from the crisis of ecological ethics and bioethics respectively,to deeply analyze William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer.This thesis analyzes the destruction of natural environment and the imbalance of post-humans’ spiritual ecology caused by the technological alienation,which reflects the multiple survival dilemmas of post-humans,and it also analyzes the crisis of life dignity and the loss of post-human subjectivity caused by the technology in enslaving,which reflects the loss of post-humans’ identities.All of these reveal the confusion of post-humans’ identities under cyberspace.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction.It mainly includes the life experience of William Gibson,his main works,the synopsis of the novel Neuromancer,the concept of cyberspace and post-humans,the research status of this work at home and abroad,and the research significance and innovation of this thesis.The second chapter discusses the theoretical basis of the thesis,mainly expounds the definition and evolution of science and technology ethics,especially ecological ethics and bioethics.The third chapter analyzes the relationship between science and technology,nature and post-humans,and analyzes the crisis of ecological ethics,that is,the technological alienation has caused the survival dilemma of post-humans from the perspective of sci-tech ethics.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the crisis of bioethics from the perspective of sci-tech ethics,that is,technology in enslaving brings confusion to the identities of post-humans.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of the thesis,discussing the main research findings of the thesis and the in-depth research that can be carried out in the future.