Deconstruction of the Notion of “Human” in Arthur C. Clarke's “2001: A Space Odyssey”

Abstract

For the last decade, the topic of Artificial intelligence (AI) has been on the boil. A Few years ago, a significant milestone came about in the history of AI: On November 30, 2022, a new generation of AI chatbots was launched. The brisk evolution of AI technology and the potential risks associated with this development caused utmost concern in one part of a global society. This international uneasiness resulted in a further rise of heed in the Science Fiction works that deal with the same trope. As a matter of course, "2001: A Space Odyssey" is among such works.

Generally, science fiction examines the notion of "human" by deconstructing it. This process involves juxtaposing humanity with its creations (such as AI com­puters, Androids, artificially created biological organisms, etc.). In different areas of science, especially literature and philosophy, deconstruction, as a method, was introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida. It is also important to note that the researchers from the related fields firmly believe that deconstruction is one of the main characteristics of both Postmodernism and science fiction. In the third episode of "2001: A Space Odyssey", the notion of mankind is deconstructed by setting against one another a human, David Bowman, and an AI supercomputer, HAL 9000. To adequately dissect and interpret the episode, it is crucial to consider both: "2001: A Space Odyssey" the book written by prominent sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke, and the movie version of it by Stanley Kubrick, simultaneously.

What is human?– this issue has been troubling philosophers of all generations ever since the beginning of the history of mankind. Christianity situates humanity in the center of the universe, declaring its uniqueness. As an exceptional being created by an omnipotent god, the human race has the unquenchable urge to replace the deity by replicating the act of divine creation. It could be viewed as one of the prime inducements behind mankind's quest to bring into being a creature of superior intellectual abilities.

Unlike Christianity, Postmodernism and Science Fiction regard man as an entity of trifling importance. Humans are thrown into existence without an initial purpose. Postmodernism views the inner world of a man to be decentralized. This results in a complete denigration of notions such as "personality" and "self." Accor­ding to postmodern thought, a person is a sum of different social roles a.k.a masks.

The third episode of the "Odyssey 1" begins with the introduction of the "Discovery" crew. The dividing margin between humans and nonhumans is fading away right from the beginning as the supercomputer HAL 9000 is regarded as "He" instead of "It" by his crewmates. In the book, as well as in the movie, HAL is perso­nified as an electronic eye. It is important to note, that an eye is a paramount symbol in Christianity which denotes God himself. Hence, HAL's eye is red, which gives the computer a hellish appearance. It leads to the conclusion that because of not having finalized its spiritual development, mankind is incompetent to recreate the act of divine creation and therefore, gives birth to a diabolical being that is only a simu­lacrum, not a mirror image of its begetter.

Culturology and Theology consider the process of playing a game as a special form of interaction between deity and man, as religious rituals (for example, communion) are viewed as a kind of game. On the other hand, humankind and AI interact through games as well. In "Odyssey 1" Hal demonstrates an uncanny ability to beat his human colleagues in chess. This fact shifts the binary opposition, in doing so placing the computer in the center of the new system. In the movie, Stanley Kubrick connects the game of chess with the HAL 9000's main leitmotiv, namely lie, as HAL beats his human colleague by deceiving him. In Christianity, truth is considered to be the God itself, while a lie is something of the opposite of God. This tendency further highlights the fact that the computer is just a simulacrum.

In the final part of the third episode, the border between humans and robots vanished without a trace. In the scene of Hal's lobotomy, Dave Bowman demons­trates dispassionate judgment and determination in his actions. On the contrary, Hal is overwhelmed with fear of his inevitable "death." The scene demonstrates the merging of some human characteristics that are usually considered to be opposites.

HAl's lobotomy has grave importance for the overall plot. The main topic of Clarcke's and Kubrick's work is the evolution of the human race. In the initial stages of this process, mankind learned to dominate the outside world by wielding tools, such as sticks and stones. Those primitive tools later develop to the stage of Supercomputers such as HAL 9000. As time passed, humans became too dependent on these tools. According to Clarke and Kubrick, the ultimate stage of evolution can only be reached if humans learn to overcome this dependence.