Eileen Hunt Botting

Artificial Life After Frankenstein by Eileen Hunt Botting presents an in-depth and well-argued case for what should be considered "life" as it pertains to rights, responsibilities, and duties. Or basically to what should we show the type of ethical treatment we should already be showing to those we think of as human beings.

This is an accessible read but I wouldn't call it an easy read. Depending on your familiarity with AI (in the broadest terms possible), genetic engineering, political science fiction, bioethics, political philosophy, and several other fields, some sections will be a slower read than others. That said, Botting does a very good job of explaining what she is doing so that even without a lot of background a reader can follow her arguments.

On the whole, I tended to agree with (my understanding) of her arguments though there were a few places where I didn't completely see the connection she was trying to make to either Frankenstein or another work. But in those cases it wasn't that I thought her "real world" views were weakened by it, I simply didn't see the connection. I also thought there were a couple of times in countering other theorists that she did not faithfully present their entire stance. I still think what she chose to highlight was valid as something to argue against, I just felt that the impression given of the other theorist was distorted with respect to peripheral aspects of the issue. In particular I am thinking of her assessment, which I found quite convincing, of Habermas' position. I think his position is more nuanced than she gave it credit for being.

There were several points during the book that I kept thinking back to a concept that I recently read a little about, namely cognitive assemblages. What I read about them (Postprint by N Katherine Hayles) was focused on a different topic but I think a synthesis of these ideas would be worth pursuing.

I will be rereading this at some point to wrap my mind around the ideas a bit better. In my world, that is a positive aspect of a book. One that rewards my first reading and leaves me wanting to read it again to better understand it, what more can you ask for from a book?

I recommend this to readers who want to consider how we will approach the different forms of intelligence, sentient beings, and even how we treat those we think of as "other" in the future. The times they are a-changing and using everything at our disposal, fiction, science, philosophy, can help us to assess what we might do and what might be the most ethical things to do.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mer)