Machines Like Me

Machines Like Me is a 2019 novel by British author Ian McEwan. The novel is written ironically and at the same time deeply. It is set in London in the 1980s and offers an "alternative variant" of London. Charlie, a man in his 40s, tries to make ends meet through sporadic, impulse-driven businesses while trying to avoid permanent employment. He is in love with the much younger student Miranda, who lives in the house directly above him. When Charlie's mother dies, he buys "Adam" with the inheritance. Adam is the first man-made, synthetic human. Charlie installed along with Miranda Adam and his personality. A unique relationship develops between the "perfect" humanoid Adam, Charlie and Miranda. As time goes on, they are haunted by a terrible secret from the past. This presents the three with a massive moral dilemma.

I found four aspects of this novel particularly entertaining / interesting:

1. Time merging: In the novel, Alan Turing (British computer scientist, b. 1954) and Demis Hassabis (CEO of DeepMind, b. 1976) are friends, which in fact is not possible. Margaret Thatcher is in power and in London self-driving cars are driving, as well as mechanization and automation "taking away" people's jobs. The overlapping of times shows how similar intellectual, political and moral challenges are that different generations deal with. Which questions and problems outside of the natural sciences that already existed in the middle of the last century could be declared as solved today?

2. Ambiguity: The novel uses language as an element of deception, concealment and uncertainty, which is particularly evident in the ambiguity of the sentences. Already the title contains an ambiguity: Machines Like Me can be read as love (i.e. machines like me), comparison (i.e. machines are similar to me) or belonging (i.e. I am the same kind as machines).

3. Being human: what characterises a human being? Spontaneously, three areas came to mind that frame "being" human and at the same time have many grey areas worth discussing:

(a) in the case of the body as a genetically identifiable, phenotypic bio-mass, questions arise, for example, about the classification of cyborgs (= mixed beings made up of living organisms and machines) or about the general beginning of life (and thus of humans?);

(b) mind as a collective term for attention, perception, memory, logic and coordination raises questions about consciousness (as opposed to instinct?) and creativity (as opposed to mere reproduction?) as prerequisites for the existence of a mind;

(2) in emotional life, the question arises of how the outward expression of a feeling (e.g. a statement) relates to the inner life (e.g. a feeling).

To put it another way: What would a synthetic robotic human need to have for an affair with him to be seen as cheating? At what point is he or she no longer mere stimulation or would he or she no longer be considered a "sex doll"?

4. Benefit question: The idea of ​​creating synthetic humans according to individual needs sounds questionable and both utopian and dystopian. Who benefits from such a creation? At the end, it is also about the distribution or availability of resources: a) Who would have the financial resources to be able to afford it? b) Who has the intellectual resources to operate this potentially super-intelligent, synthetic human and thus use it to its full capacity? c) Who determines what needs are met (e.g., sex, conversation, love, or status needs).

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