THE TRANSHUMANIST DEATH OF IDENTITY IN DON DELILLO’S ”ZERO K”
THE TRANSHUMANIST DEATH OF IDENTITY IN DON DELILLO’S ”ZERO K”

Summary/Abstract: The present paper explores the transhumanist attempt to conceptualize and enact a prolonging of life through a transfer of identity in Don DeLillo’s novel Zero K. In fact, the fear of death is a common theme in many of DeLillo’s novels, but Zero K goes the extra mile in that it tackles the consequences of choosing to have one’s body preserved for a later time, hoping it will be reawakened. The death of identity is rendered most impressively through the character Artis Martineau, as the patient experienced both confusion and trauma after her mind had been uploaded to a new body at the facility called the Convergence, turning her into an ahistorical human. Leaving aside the literary exploration of transhumanist themes, scholars have expressed concerns over the progressive views of Natasha Vita-More and the Humanity+ foundation. For instance, Adam Keiper states that transhumanism raises technology above humanity and that mind uploading is likely to fail. Even if it does succeed, as Dickel & Frewer (2014) pointed out, the posthuman beings would find memories something completely alien to them. In Zero K, transhumanist ideals are deconstructed, as cryonics is considered a risky, faith-based technology

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