Stories and Shows

There’s a lot of great (_and not so great) science fiction with overt transhumanist themes. I’m going to be collecting a nice list of them here, with links as best I can! My criteria are ad hoc and personal.

Not every piece of media here really represents transhumanism positively. A lot of science fiction thrives on the scary technology tropes. I include a lot of that, and the classics, though, because it serves a purpose. Reading about tech gone wrong is meant to help us avoid that IRL, after all. Most of fiction is really over the top when compared to the real shapes of the future, but we can still learn from it, and people do!

The vast majority of these feature robots or artificial intelligences as a major trope. In almost all, these creatures are sapient. IRL, what passes for AI is decidedly neither sapient nor sentient. It’s important to keep that in mind.

Don’t romanticize the notion of ChatGPT just because you watched AI: Artificial Intelligence back in ‘01. You’re witnessing exceptionally clever gradient descent, not an awakening self- awareness, trust me.

I’ve written here before about how I think the role of robots in fiction affects our interactions with large language models. I still find that very true. It’s something to guard against if you’re using them a lot. Resist urges to over- romanticize the experience, especially if you’re also using these things to write/roleplay. Remember when you’re talking to ChatGPT that it’s not Data or C3P0. And deal with it.

Anyways, here’s some media featuring themes pertinent to the topic of this site. I’m including small blurbs about each piece, but I will avoid spoilers if at all possible. If I’m aware who wrote or was majorly responsible for it, I added that too.

They’re divided into positive portrayals of artificial intelligence, neutral ones, and those that are negative. Obviously, this is widely open to interpretation in many cases such as almost all of the list but I did my best…

Positive Portrayals

• Alita: Battle Angel (2019 Film)
  Cyborg protagonist treated as a person. Emphasizes agency despite augmentation.
• Ghost in the Shell, Masamune Shirow (1989 Manga)
  Explores cybernetic bodies, digital consciousness, and networked identity. Treats transhumanism as normalized and complex.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994 TV series)
  Android character Data explores personhood. AI portrayed as ethical aspirant.
• The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov (1953 Novel)
  Detective novel in a future society dependent on robots. Portrays AI as socially integrated and largely beneficial. Focuses on human prejudice against artificial beings.
• The Culture Series, Iain M. Banks, (Novel series)
  Advanced AI Minds govern society benevolently. Presents post-scarcity optimism.
• The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson (1995 Novel)
  Explores nanotechnology, AI tutors, and social change. Generally supportive of human enhancement.
• The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein (1966 Novel)
  Features a self-aware computer aiding political change. AI portrayed as cooperative and beneficial.
• The Positronic Man, Isaac Asimov (1976 Novel)
  Chronicles a robot’s gradual acquisition of human rights. Presents transhuman progression as dignified.
• TRON (1982 Film)
  Digital entities coexist with humans. Optimistic technological framing.

Negative Portrayals

• Akira (1988 Animated film)
  Human augmentation through uncontrolled experimentation. Focuses on loss of control and bodily autonomy.
• Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan (2002 Novel)
  Mind uploading enables immortality but worsens inequality.
• Black Mirror (2011– TV anthology series)
  Anthology examining technology misuse. Repeatedly critical of AI and augmentation.
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick (1968 Novel)
  Questions the boundary between humans and androids. Focuses on empathy, artificial life, and moral ambiguity. Presents a bleak view of synthetic personhood.
• Dune, Frank Herbert (1965 Novel)
  Post-AI society shaped by fear of machine intelligence.
• Ex Machina (2014 Film)
  Examines AI consciousness testing and manipulation. Presents AI development as ethically compromised.
• Forbidden Planet (1956 Film)
  Features advanced machines left, an extinct civilization. AI-like systems act according to inherited goals. Warns about unchecked technological inheritance.
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818 Novel)
  Often cited as proto–science fiction. Concerns artificial creation of life through human intervention.
• Gattaca (1997 Film)
  Human genetic engineering used for social stratification.
• If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares (2025 Horror Anthology)
  In his debut horror anthology, the author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality writes mediocre creepypasta about large language models.
• Metropolis (1927 Film)
  Early cinematic depiction of an artificial humanoid. Focuses on fear of technological control and class disruption caused by engineered beings.
• RoboCop (1987 Film)
  Human consciousness merged with law enforcement machinery. Focuses on corporate control and identity loss.
• The Machine Stops, E. M. Forster (1909 Short story)
  Early warning about total dependence on automated systems.
• The Matrix, The Wachowskis (1999 Film)
  Depicts AI systems maintaining simulated reality. Strongly critical of machine dominance and human dependency.
• The Stepford Wives (1972 Novel)
  Human replacement through artificial means. Social control theme.
• The Terminator (1984 Film)
  AI defense system initiates global conflict. Portrays autonomous systems as existential threats once self-directed.
• Wall-E (2008 Animated film)
  Automation leads to human atrophy. Robots show more initiative than humans.
• WarGames (1983 Film)
  Military AI nearly triggers catastrophe. Emphasizes automation risk.
• Westworld, Michael Crichton (1973 Film)
  Robotic hosts designed for entertainment malfunction. Examines exploitation, autonomy, and system failure in artificial beings.

Neutral Portrayals

• 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke (1968 Novel)
  Features HAL 9000, an AI tasked with mission integrity. Highlights conflicts between programmed directives and human trust. Avoids clear moral framing.
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001 Film)
  Follows a childlike artificial being seeking acceptance. Emphasizes emotional simulation and ethical discomfort.
• Blade Runner (1982 Film)
  Film adaptation of Dick’s novel. Centers on bioengineered humans. Treats artificial beings as morally complex rather than purely dangerous.
• Deus Ex (2000 Video game)
  Video game series about human augmentation and AI governance. Balanced skepticism.
• Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951 Novel)
  Presents predictive systems and hidden automation guiding society.
• Her, Spike Jonze (2013 Film)
  Focuses on conversational AI companionship. Treats AI as emotionally adaptive without clear moral judgment.
• I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950 Short story collection)
  Short story collection centered on positronic robots governed by formal laws. Examines AI logic, edge cases, and unintended behaviors.
• Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984 Novel)
  Introduces autonomous AIs operating beyond legal limits. Depicts artificial intelligence as powerful but constrained by human systems.
• Person of Interest (2011–2016 TV series)
  Surveillance AI predicts crime. Explores ethical oversight and restraint.
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 Film)
  Features robotic enforcement as deterrence.
• The Iron Man, Ted Hughes (1968 Children’s novel)
  Mechanical being misunderstood by humans. Ethical framing is restrained.
• Upload (2020– TV series)
  Digital afterlife run by corporations. Mixed portrayal of transhuman outcomes.