The Sun and the Market: Economy in Kazuo Ishiguro’s "Klara and the Sun"

Amirhossein  Nemati Ziarati; Hossein Pirnajmuddin; Pyeaam Abbasi

doi:10.18172/jes.6805

Autores/as

Amirhossein Nemati Ziarati University of Isfahan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8653-9853
Hossein Pirnajmuddin University of Isfahan https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8349-2626
Pyeaam Abbasi University of Isfahan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4264-5873

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.6805

Palabras clave:

Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro, economía, neoliberalismo, capitalismo de vigilancia, posthumanismo, trabajo afectivo, economías de la energía

Resumen

En este artículo ofrecemos una lectura de Klara and the Sun, de Kazuo Ishiguro, en términos de economía. Esta novela representa un mundo posthumano especulativo de un futuro no demasiado lejano en el que la inteligencia artificial ejerce una influencia decisiva, redefiniendo las relaciones, el cuidado y el valor bajo el capitalismo neoliberal. Consideramos a Klara, una Amiga Artificial (AF), como una representación de la forma en que el trabajo emocional y las conexiones humanas genuinas son mercantilizados. Basándonos en una variedad de perspectivas críticas (incluidas aportaciones de la Nueva Crítica Económica, las ciencias cognitivas y los debates sobre humanismo/posthumanismo), destacamos la atención que la novela presta al capitalismo de vigilancia, la explotación ecológica y la inversión especulativa en futuros diseñados y precarios. También examinamos el doble papel de Klara como producto tecnológico y cuidadora afectiva para poner aún más de relieve cómo la novela critica el ethos deshumanizador del neoliberalismo y reclama una repriorización del cuidado frente al beneficio. Asimismo, se problematiza la relación entre la IA y la Alife. Consideramos ambas en relación con lo que denominamos economía cognitiva. En el nivel macro, la novela de Ishiguro aborda la economía de la relación entre lo humano y lo no humano, la conciencia humana y las redes no humanas. Más específicamente, la inteligencia de Klara (incluida la emocional) implica la relación recíproca/suplementaria —economía— entre los modelos heurísticos (basados en la experiencia) y los modelos algorítmicos de la conciencia. En última instancia, esta novela nos anima a imaginar alternativas más allá de la lógica transaccional y a reconocer el valor de la vida como algo cultivado humanamente, y no como una mercancía.

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Biografía del autor/a

Amirhossein Nemati Ziarati, University of Isfahan

Amirhossein is a researcher and Ph.D. in English literature in the University of Isfahan. He received his M.A. and B.A. from the University of Tehran and Shiraz University, respectively. He is currently a part-time visiting lecturer at Persian Gulf University of Bushehr, Iran. He is interested in doing research in critical literary studies, primarily focused on the New Economic Criticism and the fiction written by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Hossein Pirnajmuddin, University of Isfahan

associate professor of English literature

Department of English Language and Literature

University of Isfahan

Pyeaam Abbasi, University of Isfahan

Pyeaam is an associate professor of English language and literature at the University of Isfahan. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Shiraz University. He has published numerous publications in many different scholarly journals and has been cited by many.

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