“Will artificial intelligence bring the end of humanity?” This is one of the main questions explored in the novel Veda, a question that everybody, from pop culture creators to contemporary philosophers, have been sharing their opinions about.

     But first, let us put this question aside and think about the process that brought us here whenever humans faced technological advances in the past: Will computers replace human beings? Will railroad transportation be the end of horse-and-cart? Will the printing press finish clerical scribes? Following the Industrial Revolution, the conflict between humans and machines has taken center stage. Since the day the first machine appeared, humankind has been asking the same questions, although in slightly different ways. The current version is: Will artificial intelligence bring humanity to an end? We will only be certain to answer this from experience, not by prediction.

     In Veda, Young-ha Kim essentially asks the same question and gives his answer in different ways. We are talking about the “existential” adventure of Cheol, a humanoid in the novel who lives on an AI development campus. He decides to cease his isolated life and face the realities of the outside world through his experiences with other humans and robots. While Kim follows this plot, he gives quick nods to earlier science fiction works, utopia/dystopia texts and films, and sometimes he even adds paragraphs to convey the infinite reaches of intertextuality. Many preceding texts include Utopia by Thomas More and, more indirectly, Emile, or On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The endeavour of creating a “human being” reminds one of Frankenstein and, because the AI campus is not what it seems, of Brave New World; readers may also think of post-apocalyptic, sci-fi films such as The Terminator and The Matrix. As in The Truman Show, we explore the consequences of limited contact with the outside world, and the existentialist dilemma of the humanoid character will call to mind Blade Runner. 

     In addition, Cheol’s fate has similarities to that of Pinocchio, carved from wood by Master Geppetto, both characters who believe themselves to be human before they finally become so. Without forgetting that Karel Čapek’s Rossum’s Universal Robots introduced the word “robot,” Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot forms a reference point for Veda as do many other texts.

     In Cheol’s dialogues with his “father” as well as with other robots, humanoids, clones and humans, the writer searches for answers without neglecting the philosophical, ethical and sociological aspects, and proposes his own thesis (since humanity is already over) while “adding on” to the existing body of work.

     For instance, Cheol asks many of the same questions that philosophers have pondered throughout the history of humankind: conscience, trust, courage, public awareness, individualism, free will, loving and being loved, remembrance, sorrow, death. Occasionally he thinks about the philosophy of religion. There is only one place where these questions lead: When and how does a human become human? As we dig deeper, we notice that the novel that best represents Veda is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Just like Dorothy, Cheol is forcibly swept away from his familiar settlement. The Tin Man, The Scarecrow and The Cowardly Lion accompany Dorothy just as Min, Seon, and Dharma do with Cheol. And Cheol, just like Dorothy, wishes to return “home” because only then will his story be completed. 

     Kim indirectly addresses the central question of his book, suggesting that to become human, one needs a story. The various paths Cheol takes, the stops he waits at, and the twists and turns that alter his course all contribute to an ongoing story, crafted along the way. This continuous narrative is the key element that defines humanity.

     Whether one is aware or not, the experiences one has lived and collected, shared with others, and partially remembered by others, contribute to the ongoing story that defines humanity. The nature of that story is shaped throughout the journey. Veda leads its readers to believe that, although humanity may have ended by the time Cheol’s story begins, there may still be hope for humankind as long as there are stories to be told.

Çağlayan Çevik 

Editor and Journalist