Novels as "Empathy Machines" in the Age of AI: Richard Powers's Bewilderment
Abstract
Abstract: This article offers a close reading of Richard Powers's 2021 novel Bewilderment , tracing the ways that machine-enabled Decoded-Neurofeedback ("DecNef") functions in the novel as a science fictional exaggeration of the power of reading fiction. By implication, Powers's dramatization of the DecNef's effects on the central character, Robin, turns Bewilderment itself into a kind of empathy machine that has the potential to heighten the feelings and thoughts of readers about problems both local and global. Structuring the discussion here will be sections involving learning from others, readers and community, "flow state" and intersubjectivity, and AI.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Literary and Philosophical Studies
Contemporary Literature and Criticism
Utopian
Dystopian
and Speculative Fiction
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The CEA critic/CEA critic
- Volume
- 88
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 71–85
- Publication date
- 1 March 2026
- Language
- EN