Synthetik Love Lasts Forever

Abstract

Guided by two of Ursula K. Le Guins stories, “The Poacher” and “Nine Lives”, this chapter seeks to uncover the hidden conservatism of the transhumanist worldview. Although the desire for change seems to be dominant, the change that is sought in fact has the purpose of making sure that things stay as they are: that we do not age, not die, not lose control and not lose love and happiness. It is not bioconservatives who live in permanent fear of change. It is transhumanists who do. This fear of change is shown to be connected to the fear of the stranger, that is, the other, who is different from ourselves and thus poses a permanent threat to the complacency of the solitary self.