Memory Manipulation, Immortality, and the Illusion of Morality: Sadism Unleashed in Science Fiction Worlds

Memory Manipulation, Immortality, and the Illusion of Morality: Sadism Unleashed in Science Fiction Worlds

Tristan Guillaume, Cergy Paris University, France

Abstract

This article examines how contemporary science fiction narratives explore the fragility of moral restraint in conditions of unaccountability. Through a close analysis of Westworld, Altered Carbon, Permutation City, and The Purge, I argue that these works function as ethical laboratories, isolating variables such as memory, embodiment, and legal consequence to reveal how readily cruelty emerges when accountability is suspended. Drawing on classical philosophy (Plato, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant), psychoanalytic theory (Freud), critical sociology (Durkheim, Foucault), and empirical psychology (Milgram, Zimbardo), I show that these narratives dramatize a disturbing hypothesis: that moral behavior may depend less on innate virtue or rational commitment than on the architecture of deterrence—surveillance, punishment, and social shame. The article concludes by examining the normative implications of this diagnosis, suggesting that while accountability structures are necessary for sustaining moral behavior, resources such as memory, embodiment, and empathy offer grounds for resistance that survive the collapse of institutional control.

Published: 2026 – 06 – 01