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Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects

Future technologies are being produced by private actors in projects promising radical societal changes. Little attention is given to the intention of these private actors. This increases the risk of missing the ways in which private political and economic interests shape future technological imagin...

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Main Author: May, Abigail
Other Authors: Maluleke, Gavaza
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Political Studies 2023
Subjects:
political studies
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access_status_str Open Access
author May, Abigail
author2 Maluleke, Gavaza
author_browse Maluleke, Gavaza
May, Abigail
author_facet Maluleke, Gavaza
May, Abigail
author_sort May, Abigail
collection Thesis
description Future technologies are being produced by private actors in projects promising radical societal changes. Little attention is given to the intention of these private actors. This increases the risk of missing the ways in which private political and economic interests shape future technological imagining. From Jeff Bezos floating space coloniesto Mark Zuckerberg's reality bending ‘metaverse', private companies envision futures that will be far better than present society. However, factors that caused the need for societal transformation are being reworked into the imaginings of future landscapes promising. Through a comparative case study analysis of the robot projects of Sophia the Robot and Miquela Sousa, the argument presented in this research study is thatthe improved and inspiring future landscapes each robot project presents cannot be achieved. This is because the ideological framing of each project replicates the logic of modernity, which functions on structures of oppression. By applying colonial and modern examples from the past and present, this study illustrates the ways in which systems of oppression – such as white supremacy and enslavement- are reproduced in the imaginings of the future in private actors' technological projects as well as the technologies itself.
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id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37516
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:31.717Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Political Studies
publisherStr Department of Political Studies
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37516 Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects May, Abigail Maluleke, Gavaza political studies Future technologies are being produced by private actors in projects promising radical societal changes. Little attention is given to the intention of these private actors. This increases the risk of missing the ways in which private political and economic interests shape future technological imagining. From Jeff Bezos floating space coloniesto Mark Zuckerberg's reality bending ‘metaverse', private companies envision futures that will be far better than present society. However, factors that caused the need for societal transformation are being reworked into the imaginings of future landscapes promising. Through a comparative case study analysis of the robot projects of Sophia the Robot and Miquela Sousa, the argument presented in this research study is thatthe improved and inspiring future landscapes each robot project presents cannot be achieved. This is because the ideological framing of each project replicates the logic of modernity, which functions on structures of oppression. By applying colonial and modern examples from the past and present, this study illustrates the ways in which systems of oppression – such as white supremacy and enslavement- are reproduced in the imaginings of the future in private actors' technological projects as well as the technologies itself. 2023-03-24T06:45:34Z 2023-03-24T06:45:34Z 2022 2023-03-24T06:45:15Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37516 eng application/pdf Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle political studies
May, Abigail
Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects
title_full Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects
title_fullStr Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects
title_full_unstemmed Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects
title_short Colonial world-making in future technological landscapes: a qualitative comparative case study of the Sophia the Robot and Miquela Projects
title_sort colonial world making in future technological landscapes a qualitative comparative case study of the sophia the robot and miquela projects
topic political studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37516
work_keys_str_mv AT mayabigail colonialworldmakinginfuturetechnologicallandscapesaqualitativecomparativecasestudyofthesophiatherobotandmiquelaprojects

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