Cyber-Beings in Literature

The Mirror of Our Own Future in the Fiction of Asimov and Dick

Abstract

The purpose of this text is to address the issue of artificial intelligences and their impact on contemporary society. To do this, we will conduct parallel readings of the dystopian societies created by Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick. From these, we will identify some features present in our immediate context, focusing on three main axes: the society of surveillance and technological control, the problem of the natural in cyber-beings, and the vision of the 21st century in science fiction to analyze whether it is illusory or, on the contrary, part of our immediate reality. All this with the aim of defining the genre as a mirror of our future, based on the reading of our present to interpret possible worlds and the future as a source of philosophical and technological reflection.

In this article, we will broadly analyze the elements of science fiction by Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick, focusing on aspects such as the naturalness of individuals, societies of control, and the lines that separate the human from the artificial as bases for philosophical reflection. Through this exercise, we will examine various works by both authors, such as The Bicentennial Man (Asimov 2019a), Satisfaction Guaranteed (Asimov 2029b), The Last Question (Asimov 2019b), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Dick 2017), and The Man in the High Castle (Dick 2021). The objective is to identify elements that allow us to interpret the 21st century as a work of science fiction in constant development.