Journal of Digital Humanities and Science Fiction Studies
DHSFS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp. 36-45.
Print ISSN: 3105-1278; Online ISSN: 3105-1286
Journal homepage: https://www.dhsfs.com
DOI: Https://doi.org/10.64058/DHSFS.26.1.03
互为相伴相生物种：《软件体的生命周期》中共生模式的伦理关系
龙 云（Long Yun），朱容秉（Zhu Rongbing）
摘要：特德·姜的中篇小说《软件体的生命周期》描绘了人与具自我意识的人工智能“数码体”之间从相互控制走向共生的复杂伦理关系。本文以唐娜·哈拉维提出的“相伴相生物种”（Companion Species）理论作为理论框架，围绕人类与人工智能能否突破主奴式技术逻辑而形成共生关系这一核心问题展开研究。通过分析，本文梳理了小说中人类借助市场机制、算法设定与行为规训对“数码体”实施技术控制的过程，揭示其背后的工具理性与资本逻辑；同时，论证“数码体”在自主学习、情感生成与权利表达中的主体化进程，及其对人类情感结构与伦理判断的反向塑造。结论展示了人类与AI在共育、共塑与情感共振中的非对称的关系，促使人类重新思考技术伦理与主体性的深度内涵，共创迈向人与人工智能互为相伴相生物种、互依共生的未来。
关键词：《软件体的生命周期》；特德·姜；哈拉维；相伴相生物种；人—人工智能伦理
作者简介：龙云（通讯作者），北京第二外国语学院英语学院教授，北京第二外国语学院，研究方向：比较文学和西方文论。电邮：cocofriend@163.com。朱容秉，北京第二外国语学院硕士研究生，研究方向：英美文学。电邮：1036009980@qq.com。
Title: Becoming Mutual Companion Species: The Ethical Relations of the Symbiotic Model in The Lifecycle of Software Objects
Abstract: Ted Chiang’s novella The Lifecycle of Software Objects portrays the complex ethical relations between humans and self-aware artificial intelligences known as “digients”, tracing their relationship from mutual control to symbiosis. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s theory of “Companion Species”, this study investigates whether human–AI relations can transcend the master–slave logic embedded in technological rationality and move toward a genuinely symbiotic model. Through close textual reading and narrative-structure analysis, this study examines how humans exercise technological control over digients through market mechanisms, algorithmic design, and behavioral regulation, revealing the instrumental rationality and capitalist logic underlying these practices. At the same time, it demonstrates the process by which digients develop subjectivity through learning, emotional formation, and the articulation of ethical claims, as well as their reciprocal influence on human emotional structures and moral judgments. The findings suggest that the novella constructs an asymmetrical yet interdependent mode of co-development, prompting a reconsideration of technological ethics and human subjectivity and envisioning a future in which humans and artificial intelligences may become mutually constitutive companion species.
Keywords: The Lifecycle of Software Objects; Ted Chiang; Donna Haraway; Companion Species; Human–AI ethics
Author Biographies: Long Yun (Corresponding author), Professor at the School of English Studies, Beijing International Studies University. Research Areas: Comparative Literature and Western Literary Theory. E-mail: cocofriend@163.com. Zhu Rongbing, Master’s candidate at Beijing International Studies University. Research Area: English and American Literature. E-mail: 1036009980@qq.com.
Received: 27 Dec 2025 / Revised: 28 Feb 2026 / Accepted: 11 Apr 2026 / Published online: 30 Apr 2026 / Print published: 30 May 2026.
