Progress as Regression: Techno-Posthumanism in Chinese Science Fiction
Ban WangAbstract
This article critiques techno-posthumanism in the works by Chen Qiufan, Wang Jinkang, and Liu Cixin. Driven by biogenetic and information technologies, techno-posthumanism treats human and nonhuman lives and biospheres as sources of extraction, accumulation, and profit. Thriving in the context of neoliberalism, techno-posthumanism restores the arrogant anthropocentric subject of traditional Eurocentric humanism. Technological “progress” is leading to a historical regression marked by an unholy alliance of money and power under the banner of oligarchy. The ceaseless growth of capital and the private enclosure of common resources widen the abyss of inequality, destroy communities and people, and damage natural environment, leading humanity and the Earth down the path of destruction.