論當前電腦龐克小說與塞爆文化中科技生命之曖昧性

On the Ambivalence of the Technological Existence in Contemporary Cyberpunk and Cyberculture

本論文認定當前各種有關科技生命之論述暴露出塞爆文化內部人類主體與科技共生之危機。本論文將從以下角度切入主題。第一部分將檢視企圖形塑／想像當前與未來科技存在、並為塞爆文化摧生的各種科技、科學研究與實踐，如人工腦學、合成體、人工智慧、人造生命及聯結論。接著討論季普森、史特林、凱蒂根、史芬生與史望維等人之電腦龐克小說如何呈現各種形式之科技生命。本論文將採取病癥式閱讀，挖掘各種潛藏於敘述表層下之對體性、焦慮、曖昧與不確定，開發演繹其理解塞爆文化本質之效用。第三部分將對本論文所強調之議題──如身體、心靈、記憶、主體意識、生與死──進行哲學化之思辯，並與相關之西方哲學論述對話。論文之終極目標在於提供有別於塞爆烏托邦與反塞爆烏托邦、較為細緻深入之思考框架，以透視塞爆文化中浮現之後人類情境之複雜性。

This essay conceives of the diverse contemporary discourses of technological existence as exposing the crisis caused by the human subject's symbiosis with technology immanent in cyberculture. This essay is divided into three parts. The first part examines various scientific and technological practices and researches that attempt to imagine and image the emergent and the future technological existence and virtually contribute to bringing forth cyberculture, such as cybernetics, cyborg, artificial intelligence, artificial life and connectionism. Then, the discussion turns to the representations of ambiguous technological existence in cyberpunk, including William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Neal Stephenson and Michael Swanwick. The strategy of 'symptomatic reading' is utilized to expose the otherness, anxiety, ambiguity and uncertainty underlying the narratives being examined, work through them, and maximize their values in understanding the nature of cyberculture. The third part offers a philosophized clarification and rethinking of the crucial issues evoked in the previous two parts, including body, mind, subjectivity, life and death, and opens a dialogue between philosophy and techno-cultural discourses. The ultimate objective is to critique both cyber-utopian and cyber-dystopian stance, and then formulate a subtler conceptual framework to diagnose the symptomatic ambiguity of the posthuman technological existence in cyberculture.