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In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro attaches much attention to expressing his moral thinking about the ethical relationship between humans and nature. The novel depicts a post-modern picture, with technological images appearing throughout. The Cootings Machine is undoubtedly an image that carries Ishiguro’s ecological thoughts. Through Klara’s eye, The Cootings Machine is designed to make more pollution. “There were three short funnels protruding from its roof, and smoke began to come up out of them. At first, the smoke came in little white puffs, then grew darker, till it no longer rose as separate clouds but as one thick continuous one” (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021: 42). The pollution that The Cootings Machine brings confused Klara so severely that “even from the magazine’s table side, I could no longer see the gap of the sky, and the window itself, which the glass men cleaned so proudly for Manager, became covered with dirty dots,” and she says, “I could feel myself weakening” (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021: 43-44). Machines are intended to help society develop while also harming the environment—massive pollution and deafening noise blanket the sky, forming the regular urban life landscape. The Cootings Machine, as the symbol of pollution, is regarded by Klara as the principal cause leading to Josie’s illness, which symbolizes that ecological destruction will harm humans someday if it is not stopped.

Chapter Two  Changes of Ethical Identity

2.1 Human Beings’ Ethical Identity

As many science fiction novels depict technological advances in the post-human landscape, such as artificial intelligence and human cloning, the ethical identity of humans demands our attention as well. In Klara and the Sun, human beings are confused about their own ethical identity due to the age of rapid technological development. The emergence of artificial intelligence, another subject distinct from human beings, has caused humans to reconsider their own position. The boundaries between humans and AI are beginning to blur, triggering a crisis of human subjects. In Sapiens: A Brief history of Humankind, Yuval Harari argues that advances in science and technology (especially in bioengineering) may not bring true physical liberation to humanity but rather create a new and more advanced creature, thus creating more substantial class barriers, ultimately devastating consequences for humanity. Harari confirms that “what we should take seriously is the idea that the next stage of history will include not only technological and organizational transformations but also fundamental transformations in human consciousness and identity” (Yuval Harari, 2011:463). When the subjectivity of human beings is challenged, an urgent search for one’s own ethical identity emerges. These contradictions have caused varying degrees of uncertainty about human ethical identity. 

2.2 Artificial Intelligence’s Ethical Identity

Artificial intelligence (AI) was formally proposed by McCarthy at the Dartmouth Society in 1956 as an essential branch of computer science. The practical examination and study of human intelligence and capacities are known as artificial intelligence (Lin Ming Bin, 2017:1). With the development of artificial intelligence technology, artificial intelligence robots, human cloning, and other technologies have bee本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。