LOVE, EMOTION, AND ARTIFICIAL BEINGS: A STUDY OF EMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN MCEWAN’S MACHINES LIKE ME (2019)
Keywords:
Artificial Beings, Artificial Intelligence, Emotion, Ethics, Love, PosthumanismAbstract
The focus of the research is on the complex interaction between feelings in love, emotional states, and the virtual world of Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me (2019), which is set in a futuristic world populated by artificial intelligence that resembles humans and is an attempt to determine the validity of emotions. The novel poses a number of issues about the nature of human experiences as well as ethical issues and the human-human relationship and technology. The novel is analyzed using the concept of Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Theory from A Cyborg Manifesto. The study explores ways in which the novel challenges traditional notions about emotions, blurring the boundaries between humans and machines. The study reveals gaps in understanding of the morals and emotional states that are inherent to the human-machine connection and is focused on McEwan's critique of technological advances. The study analyzes the emotions in McEwan's novel. The research exposes the complexities and fragility of relationships between machines and humans. It concludes that McEwan's story provides a lucid study of the shifting beliefs of humans as well as the ties of emotions in a world that is increasingly technologically connected. Also, it provides details about self-identity as a posthuman concept as well as ethics.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Javeria Saleem, Azeem Ullah, Dr Tabassum Javed (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
