The Political Implications of the Epistemological and Ontological Quandaries in Ted Chiang’s “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”

Abstract

This essay illuminates the political implications of the epistemological and ontological quandaries in Ted Chiang’s “The Lifecycle of Software Objects.” Although this novella ostensibly deals mainly with the lives of techno-humans called digients, it ultimately serves as a vehicle to precipitate reconsideration of traditional perspectives on human existence in terms of ethical dilemma and existential ambiguity. At the intersection of the paradoxial moments, humans are dependent on digients for their epistemological and ontological change. In this context, I explore the way that this novella enacts the political aesthetics, eliciting readers’ participation and making alternative perspectives to traditional assumptions of what it means to be human.