The Quest For Immortality In Science Fiction: Ethical Implications And Existential Dilemmas

Abstract

This article explores the quest for immortality in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984), Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (1992), and Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon (2022), through the lenses of ethical criticism and post-humanist theory. Using a qualitative, comparative literary analysis approach combined with close reading, the study critically examines how these novels depict technological practices, such as AI transcendence, digital consciousness transfer, and avatar embodiment, that challenge traditional understandings of identity, embodiment, and mortality. Neuromancer represents the fragmentation of self in a cybernetic world, while Altered Carbon portrays the body-swapping economy as a metaphor for socioeconomic inequality and commodification of life, whereas Snow Crash presents a virtual existence as a way to escape reality. Each work raises profound questions about identity, autonomy, and power, examining how technologies transform human relationships and social hierarchies. The analysis uncovers complex ethical dilemmas involving autonomy, commodification, and social inequality. This article uncovers the complex interplay between language, technology, and ideology.