Écofiction et biotechnologie, ou comment devenir “technophile” dans la civilisation «homme-machine»

Abstract

There are many cinematic, literary, or artistic creations in which machines and robots have coexisted with human beings since at least the 18th century (let us recall the inventions of Vaucanson and Wolfgang von Kempelen, which gave rise to many stories and controversies). This theme was also dear to the 19th century through the stories of, among others, ETA Hoffmann (The Automatons, 1814), Auguste de Villiers de l’Isle (The Future Eve, 1886), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, 1818) and S. Butler (Erewhon or On the Other Side of the Mountains, 1872). In the middle of the 20th century, there were many artistic creations, where the shadow of Isaac Asimov was rarely absent. However, far from suggesting only the unconditional glorification of the progressive and technological impetus of societies belonging to a Promethean culture, the various themes addressed in contemporary science fiction productions arise in a post-apocalyptic setting of destruction of the planet and humanity. These ecofictions thus constitute stories revealing the image that industrial societies construct of themselves. Do they always evoke a technophobic denunciation, more or less nuanced, of the reigning technological progress? Do they invite us, on the contrary, to become more and more technophile in the “man-machine” civilization (Kurzweill. Cited by Miyares, 2022: 94) characterized by a biotechnological evolutionism or cyborg-centrism without limits? Using symbolic hermeneutics, this article aims to address the contemporary narrative of this Promethean imaginary, based on three science fiction films and streaming series: Ghost in the Shell (Rupert Sanders, 2017), Raised by Wolves (Ridley Scott, Aaron Guzikowski, 2020-22) and The Creator (Gareth Edwards, 2023). These ecofictional narratives foreground themes central to transhumanism with a universe of mass human destruction, highlighting a paradigm shift. It is therefore a matter of questioning the ways in which this progressive and advanced biotechnological, post and transhumanist philosophy is announced, questioned, or denounced, if not reformulated.