Science Fiction Studies

Abstract:

Ted Chiang's The Lifecycle of Software Objects shows how life and the lifecycles of human and nonhuman artificial life are dictated by technological determinism and market primacy. Such social forces, however, are not absolute, as Chiang explores the ways in which his characters can make choices that do not always follow the principles of utility and economy. For Chiang, such possibilities emerge from everyday life—a site that enables the gradual accretion of knowledge and experience, fostering intelligence and friendship that favor the humanist values of development, codependency, and solidarity. The characters learn to cooperate and commit themselves to each other, defying the deterministic narrative that binds nonhuman life to a short-lived, programmed lifecycle, on the one hand, and subjects human life to the future of super-artificial intelligence on the other. In times when everyday life appears to be under the impervious rule of the market and technology, Chiang's story reflects on the porosity through which more viable transspecies social relations and visions can arise.