Abstract

‘Post-human’ involves human beings beyond the human, collectively referring to those who are conditioned to live a completely unconventional life in comparison with human beings both in the past and present, due to the advancement of science and technology. A post-human era, when Heidegger’s proposition of being-towards-death would sound unsubstantiated, heralds an epoch-making transformation that could substantially obliterate the thinking and identity accumulated by Homo sapiens. In the same vein, Korean society has witnessed a gain of attention to AI and Industry 4.0 since the ‘AlphaGo Shock’, while television dramas are unfolding fully-fledged post-human imagination. Particularly, “Are You Human?” presents the episodes of an imaginary AI humanoid robot situated in a Korean society based on post-humanist imagination. “Are You Human?” raises a question about humanity by re-enacting the depravity of humans who deny their humanity in juxtaposition with an AI robot that tries to be a real human by preserving the qualities of humanity. Also, the drama explores how to treat and coexist with a ‘machine-human’ that has acquired desires and a spontaneous will. “Are You Human?” explores a view that we should not treat an android in human form that has acquired human ways of thinking as nothing but a piece of machine. Rather it suggests that we must allow it a status similar or equal to that of a human. Moreover, the drama depicts a post-humanist agent, who breaks down the adamant normative boundary separating humans and organisms from non-humans and fabricated items by the portrayal of a human having true love for a ‘machine-human’. In conclusion, “Are You Human?” indicates a method of thought for a post-human era by suggesting a cross-sectional subjectivity nullifying the solid idea that only humans can be the subject.