Abstract:

The sci-fi works Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny and The Lifecycle of Software Objects employ narratives of “parenting with automaton” and “parenting within cyberspace” to depict parenting subjects under emotional exhaustion， thereby interrogating how utilitarian professional ethics and pervasive entertainment culture profoundly reshape parenting practices. The emergence of alienated parenting reveals the crisis of technological “others” being rendered voiceless. As human “surrogates，” automatic nannies and digital pets redefine the value systems and moral responsibilities required for embodied social interaction. These technologies expand parenting practices beyond domestic spheres while unlocking care-receivers’ physical potential. Such technologically mediated parenting essentially produces a consumable parenting experience， actively participating in the consumer society’s symbolic production， commodity circulation， and identity reconstruction. The alienated parenting scenarios amplify the historical crisis of individuals’ blind pursuit of bodily liberation and indulgent moral egoism， while simultaneously reflecting Ted Chiang’s critical stance toward mediated society and mechanistic views of the body.

Key words: Ted Chiang, Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny, The Lifecycle of Software Objects, “parenting with automaton”, “parenting within cyberspace”