Cupidlyn Gravador has a BA in English and MA in English (Philippines). She is a Lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University (Thailand), where she teaches English and literature courses. Her interests include postcolonialism, transhumanism, and comparative literature studies. E-mail: cbgravador@gmail.com
Joseph Reylan Viray (PhD) is the Director of the Research Institute for Culture and Language (Polytechnic University of the Philippines). He has a BA in Philosophy with minor in Sociology, a Bachelor of Laws, and a PhD in Philippine Studies (Language, Culture, and Media). E-mail: jbviray@pup.edu.ph
Foreshadowing the After Human: A Transhumanist Study of P. S. I Love You
Abstract: This paper is a transhumanist study of the novel P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern (2003). It is inspired by the research paper by Liaqat, Q. (2022) on the Pakistani novel Trespassing (2003). While the latter proved that transhumanism is present in literary texts that feature less advanced technologies, this paper proposes that human transcendence beyond the mortal body is also possible even in non-advanced technologies. Using mind uploading as the specific lens, the paper examines how the main protagonist lived after his human body through the ten love letters he left for his widow before his death. The study of transhumanism gets broader as time elapses, seeking to be a gateway to the inclusion of non-advanced technologies in further or related studies. This paper contends that technology is technology no matter how advanced it may be. As long as the intersection between humans and technology serves the purpose of human immanence and immortality, the transhumanist inquiry is worth examining.
Keywords: transhumanism, mind uploading, alterity, immanence, immortality