Analysis: Monster and Object

Considering both the Bisclavret and the miniature from the Lives of Saint Edmund and Fremund, an important question arises, what exactly does it mean to be human? The focus earlier was on the Bisclavret displaying positive versus negative human-like characteristics and the way he was treated in both these scenarios. In the Lives of Saint Edmund and Fremund, the wolf is again displaying a positive human-like characteristic by protecting Edmund’s head and not attacking anyone who approaches. However, there are a large number of negative characteristics that are displayed by humans. Actions that are considered heroic, can still cause other people harm, for example, Beowulf killing Grendel’s mother. She was someone who just wanted to get revenge on people who had killed her son. According to the merriam-webster dictionary, a human is defined as a bipedal primate mammal. (Merriam-Webster) The Bisclavret has a human form and a wolf form, but in both of these forms, he shows awareness and responds to his surroundings as most humans would. It can be argued that any being that is aware of its surroundings and is capable of forming coherent thoughts and putting them into action, is a human. In our life, we need not worry about humans getting trapped in animal or monster forms, but we must consider the presence of artificial intelligence or AI in our world. According to the merriam-webster definition, an AI is certainly not a human since it is not a mammal, and it is not alive. However, if we consider our argument, AI could be considered human. Currently, there are many different models of machine learning in AI. These are being developed into a way where AI can think similarly to a human, and produce and communicate results in a human-like manner (Zewe, 2022). One day AI may be almost indistinguishable from a human in terms of communication and maybe even physical appearance. It is important to consider what exactly is a human, is the Bisclavret truly a human, and if he is, does that make future AI human as well? How exactly does one define these characteristics, and is a positive human-like characteristic the only defining feature?