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Posthumanism

Free Thinking: A Festival of ideas for the future

 

This morning, Beatriz and I strolled down to the BBC Radio3 Free Thinking festival taking place at FACT. Two of our friends - Jude Kelly and Nick Bostrom - were presenting at the same time though in different rooms, so we split up and re-grouped afterwards, taking in lunch with the 'robotic' panel afterwards. This also included Fiona Coyle from CeSAGen at Cardiff Uni and it was good to meet her as I know some of her colleagues quite well. She also injected some much-needed critical theory into the posthuman debate. Dylan Evans was articulating the 'hang on a second' perspective and told me about his very interesting 'utopia experiment' project in Scotland, where he has just moved. It was a good chance to see FACT at full-speed and the debate I saw was well-attended, especially for a Sunday morning! Artist Neil Harbisson was present with inventor of his Eyeborg Adam Montandon. Coincidentally, I had seen Neil before at the Bankside Gallery in London, where he was performing at the Sense and Sensuality exhibition.

Eyeborg

Aimee Mullins, some meaningful connections (for me)

1. I'm currently reviewing 'The Prosthetic Impulse'edited by Marquard Smith and Joanne Morra for the journal Body and Society, within which 2 chapters discuss Aimee Mullins.

2. I saw Cremaster 3 a couple of years ago at the CCA in Glasgow, within which Aimee Mullins features in various roles.

3. I visited the Cremaster exhibition at the Guggenheim New York in 2002 and another in the Chelsea area of NYC this May.

4. 2 newspapers this week have included features about Aimee, one was the Times on Sunday, another is today, also the Times, which includes a feature on Nick Knight, who shot the iconic photograph of Aimee with her 'cheetah legs'.

5. A friend of mine from secondary school went to work with Nick Knight a few years ago. His name is Ben Dunbar-Brunton. I was down in London a couple of weeks ago for a workshop hosted at the Science Museum which aimed to plan an exhibition on the future of sport. At this meeting was Ross Philips who works within one of Knight's online spaces.

6. Cheetah Man is the name of the image depicted on the cover of my book 'Genetically Modified Athletes'. Both of these images - in their different ways and in the context of Smith and Mora's book raise questions about the meaning of prosthesis in contemporary life and its relationship to technofetishism and disability studies.

7. Aimee Mullins is also a medal winning Paralympian.

8. I have just published an article that discusses notions of 'ability' against 'disability studies' in the context of tests for performance genes.

9. I spoke about Aimee Mullins' 'cheetah legs' at a lecture I gave to the Royal College of Art 'Design Interactions' programme a couple of weeks ago.

Royal College of Art (October, 2006)

Last week, I went down to the RCA to give a talk I titled 'Posthuman Designs'. The programme on Design Interactions led by Anthony Dunne is just fascinating, engaging students with ways of imagining the future as a mechanism through which to promote public engagement about technology. Some of the work taking place there is superb and with everyone squeezed into a seminar room earnestly taking notes and thinking about how to transform concepts into artefacts, it's a really inspiring place. I hope to be down there again soon.

International Conference on Sport Technology and Development (Shah Alam, Malyasia, Sept 2006)

Andy Miah in Shah AlamThis was a wonderful meeting where I had a chance to taste a little of the Malaysian lifestyle. It was a bit of a flying visit, but thoroughly worthwhile. The conference was the first major conference of this department, which is very well positioned withiin the university (of over 100,000 students!).

Conference website available online. My paper was titled Posthuman Sport

Bioteknica Laboratory Remix

In 2003, I was on a panel with Jennifer and Shawn at the Glasgow School of Art.... BIOTEKNICA LABORATORY REMIX: with Teratological Prototypes in Collaboration with Tissue Culture & Art Project Shawn Bailey | Jennifer Willet | Oron Catts | Ionat Zurr

Aug 7 – 13 2006 ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge & the Thirteenth International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA2006)

http://www.bioteknica.org <http://www.bioteknica.org> http://www.tca.uwa.edu.au/ <http://www.tca.uwa.edu.au/> http://www.01sj.org/

BIOTEKNICA LABORATORY REMIX (with Teratological Prototypes in collaboration with TC&A) is a complex functional laboratory installation – built to sustain cellular life within the gallery environment.  Utilizing tissue culture and tissue engineering technologies, we have developed a series of small sculptures (Teratological Prototypes) that will be grown live in the gallery environment with an accompanying installation, laboratory protocol performances, and video. This work mobilizes the notion of remixing the laboratory environment as a critical turn in creating an interface between non-specialists - and ‘real’ and mediated representations of the laboratory.

Through a critical participatory methodology BIOTEKNICA LABORATORY REMIX both embraces and critiques evolving biotechnologies, considering the contradictions and deep underlying complexities that these technologies offer the present and future of humanity.

We wish to thank our supporters: SymbioticA, School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia, The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, HEXAGRAM, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Programme Québec Multimédia Jeunesse, The Canada Council for The Arts, Concordia Part-Time Faculty Union, The Banff Centre for the Arts, and Articule Artist Run Centre.

For more information please contact Jennifer Willet:  jwillet@sympatico.ca

Kristi Giselsson

Well this is a little experiment. I met Kristi in Stanford during the Human Rights and Human Enhancement conference. She explained a little of her phd to me, which was interested in posthumanism. At the time, I recalled a paper from an author in Aus who I thought might interest her. Now, upon looking through my endnote file, I discover the article again and think of sending it. However, I cannot find her email address online anywhere, so I thought I'd post to wordpress with her name in the expectation that she will, at some point Google herself and find it. What name could we give this kind of activity? It's a form of inverse emailing. Anyway, Kristi, if you see this, here is the article and get in touch!

Bendle, M. F. (2002). "Teleportation, Cyborgs and the Posthuman Ideology." Social Semiotics 12(1): 45-62.

TransVision06

TransVision06 August 17-19, 2006

University of Helsinki, Finland, Europe

http://www.transhumanismi.org/tv06/

The annual TransVision conference brings together leading transhumanist thinkers, technologists, scientists and philosophers from around the world.

This year's conference is held under the theme "Emerging Technologies ofHuman Enhancement".

The conference will be held in Helsinki, Finland, one ofthe world's leading high technology centers. TransVision06 is organized bythe World Transhumanist Association together with the Finnish Transhumanist Association.**

Keynote speakers     * Dr. William Sims Bainbridge  National Science Foundation (USA)     * Dr. Aubrey de Grey           University of Cambridge; IEET

** Other prominent speakers:

  • Prof. Timo Airaksinen        University of Helsinki
  • Dr. Nick Bostrom             Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford; WTA; IEET 
  • Jose Cordeiro                Millennium Project
  • Dr. Ben Goertzel             Noveamente LLC 
  • Dr. James Hughes             WTA; IEET
  • Prof. Hannu Kari             Helsinki University of Technology
  • Giulio Prisco                FutureTAG; WTA; IEET
  • Dr. Richard Sherlock         Utah State University
  • Philippe Van Nedervelde      Foresight Nanotech Institute
  • Natasha Vita-More            Extropy Institute
  • David Wood                   Symbian Inc.

Full list of speakers is available at the conference website.             Early registration open until May 31st!

More information and registration at: http://www.transhumanismi.org/tv06/

Mediated Bodies (14-16 Sept, 2006)

Mediated Bodies International conference 14. 15 and 16 September 2006 Faculty of Arts and Culture Maastricht University The Netherlands

CALL FOR PAPERS

There is no object of scientific investigation that is as difficult to consider a mere object as the human body. People do not merely have but are their bodies. Accordingly, there is a strong mutual relationship between scientific, esp. medical conceptions and practices and the constitution and experience of the body in other cultural domains (i.e. religion, philosophy, are, popular culture etc.) and in every day life The visualisation of the body's interior is particularly significant as it renders available what is both very nearby and inaccessible in daily experience.

The way the body is dealt with, cared for, used, or sensed changes with how its interiority and boundaries are conceived of and vice-versa. Therefore, the early modern body might be very different from that of the 21st century and the body in African medical practice might bear little resemblance to the corporeal object of European or American biomedicine.

Bodily realities and experiences are produced as much as they are discovered and expressed in the interplay of mediating discourses and practice. Medical visualisation technologies are at the heart of this interplay.The conference centers around the question of how (medical and / or technological) visualisations of the body interact with other discourses and practices in the mediation of human bodies.

This question is explored in 7 successive sessions, each dealing with specific visualisations of bodies and with particular historical or cultural contexts. For each of these sessions there is still place for several papers of 20 minutes.

If you are interested please send an abstract of your contribution to Ren E van de Vall, r.vandevall@lk.unimaas.nl, before 15 May 2006.

World Pro-Doping Agency

I happen to think that I have a relatively moderate view about performance enhancement in sport. My initial position is that the doping dilemma is a genuine ethical issue - one which lends itself to no clear resolution, because there are essentially contested concepts at stake. To this extent, I sympathise with many people involved within the anti-doping movement. I listen to their views, I take on board what they say. To this extent, I also do not shout too loud about the value of a pro-doping stance, even though I am characterised predominantly as advocating this view. For one thing, the doping issue is deeply political and, if one aims to do good philosophy, then taking this into account is critical. Debates surrounding any technological, regulatory issue must engage with the practical ethical problems they present. However, at times, I wonder whether I should be more radical and unforgiving about the case to be made on behalf of doping.

Yet another 'pro-doping' op ed piece passed across my desk today and it has provoked me to consider whether there should be some form of organisation of these disparate views. Perhaps we need to get all the 'pro-doping' views/people together to bring about some form of structured intervention. However, if I do this, I worry that this might compromise my integity by clearly aligning myself with one particular kind of conclusion when, as I say, this issue is more complex.

So, my proposal is to establish a World Pro-Doping Agency as a thought experiment. I wonder how many people would sign up. My first task will be to assemble all papers, people and institutions that have raised questions about the anti-doping movement. However, the end goal is one that seeks to present constructive proposals to the difficult problem of doping in sport. (Watch out for publications of mine using this title.)

Fashions of the Future

Forbes magazine reports on the future of clothing technology. Examples include a spray-on dress and an outfit that makes you feel as if you are being hugged. This is great fodder for the technophobes who worry that this will replace human contact. For me, these ideas are wonderfully creative, but also the mixing of clothing, design and technology allows us to consider how we might view the latter when it is a, ahem, seamless part of our bodies. As they mention, clothing is already technologically sophisticated, but this show indicates the many possibilities that are just around the corner.

Enhance Project

The website of the ENHANCE project launched earlier this month. It is a vast collaborative network covering all aspects of enhancement technologies, funded through the European 6th Framework programme. Watch that space!

Technosexual - Extreme Makeover Needed!

James Hughes just told me about a new page written by Justice De Thezier on the emerging technosexual, the made-over transhuman. He told me this, as the page has a photo of me at the end of it! So, this makes me the first technosexual, doesnt it?Should I be pleased about that? If someone wikis this, please ensure my photo is included. Somebody should probably get some posters printed. [I have just seen that there is already a wikipedia entry!]

Vital Politics II - Health, Medicine, and Bioeconomics into the 21st Century (1 March, 2006)

The BIOS Centre is organizing an international conference on 7-9 September 2006 at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The aims of the conference are to provide a comparative and global perspective on present forms of practice in the life sciences. The Organizing Committee welcomes proposals for individual papers which seek to make conceptually innovative contributions to the exploration of the character and genealogy of transformations in health, illness, vitality, and pathology. We are particularly (though not exclusively) seeking abstracts which relate to following themes:

Social science of regenerative medical technologies Papers which explore any area related to the science(s), technologies, regulation, implications and use of regenerative medical technologies such as stems cells, cell cultures, engineered tissues, or xenotransplantation. We welcome papers which explore the social and ethical implications of regenerative medical technologies as they relate to ideas and notions around identity, gender, disability, age, ethnicity, or social class. Papers that explore regenerative medical technologies in relation to concepts such as embodiment, personhood, responsibility, risk and capitalism are also welcomed.

Neuroscience and society Papers which explore any area related to the manufacture, governance and implications of new technologies in the neurosciences, such as recent developments surrounding behavioural genomics, psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, consciousness, and the political economy of neuroscience research. In particular, papers which engage with the question of how developments in the neurosciences may be reshaping distinctions between health and illness, treatment and enhancement, normality and pathology.

Bioeconomics and biocapital Papers which explore any area related to the regional, national and transnational economic and political implications of developments in genomics and biomedicine, including issues of biological surveillance; trade; the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources; the patenting of genes and living organisms; branding in biomedicine and biotechnology; and the political economy of intellectual property regimes. Papers which embrace terms such as “biocapital” and “bioeconomics” as effective conceptual heuristics to characterize new economic developments, or which critique the usefulness or the novelty of such terms, are equally welcome.

Please submit abstracts (250-300 words) by email to l.j.mcgoey [at] lse.ac.uk

Deadline for abstract submissions: 01 March 2006

Letters of acceptance will be sent by May 1. The conference fee will be £175 (this fee includes registration, lunches, and a conference dinner. It excludes travel and accommodation).

For any further details, please contact the BIOS Organizing Committee (Chaired by Dr. Carlos Novas) via Linsey McGoey: BIOS, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE

Email: l.j.mcgoey [at] lse.ac.uk Web: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BIOS/vital_politicsII.htm

Extreme Culture/ Extreme Bodies (Feb 15, 2006)

Call for Abstracts, Chapters, and Proposals ? Deadline Extended to February 15, 2006 Since the 1990s, 'extreme' has become part of the mainstream cultural vocabulary. The American public eagerly consumes extreme cuisine, wears extreme deodorant ('energy-scented'), watches extreme television shows like Fear Factor, drives oversized extreme vehicles, practices extreme sports and signs up for extreme adventure vacations involving bungee jumping, 'high falls,' and 'fire burns.' Extreme body modification, both normative (as exemplified on the television shows Extreme Makeover and The Swan) and non-normative, has been subsumed into the mainstream media, as a form of entertainment and a marketing scheme. These carefully conceived mediated products effectively push boundaries, challenging our conceptions of beauty, deviancy, human pain thresholds, humiliation, entertainment, and leisure. Within this context, it appears that people who want to stand out have been driven to push the extreme to the extreme. Although the roots of extreme culture are counter-cultural, does the extreme body offer a way to resist the standardized, homogeneous, pre-packaged fakeness of consumer society?

The editors of Extreme Culture/Extreme Bodies seek papers on all themes exploring the body, identity, and consumption within the context of extreme culture. Both theoretical and empirical studies are invited from sociological, cultural studies, media studies, and feminist perspectives. Suggested submission topics include, but are not limited to the following themes:

  • The body and consumer culture
  • Recent trends in cosmetic surgery
  • The body within the context of extreme sports
  • Non-normative or subcultural body modification practices
  • The body as an artistic medium
  • Expressions of the extreme body in advertising and popular media
  • Embodiment within cyberspace
  • Theoretical perspectives on postmodernity, identity, and the body

DEADLINE: February 15, 2006. Chapters must be submitted in Microsoft Word format, 12 point font, double spaced. Essays should be in the range of 7500 - 10,000 words with references in ASA style. We will also consider abstracts and shorter proposals. Include a cv with your submission.

Send submissions and inquires to mary.kosut@purchase.edu

Mary Kosut, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Sociology and Media, Society, and the Arts School of Natural and Social Sciences Purchase College - SUNY Purchase, NY 10577

Elizabeth C. Bachner, Ph.D. Instructor of Sociology The New School New York, New York

FORENSIC FUTURES: INTERROGATING THE POSTHUMAN SUBJECT

Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1, 16, 17 and 18 March, 2006 Convened by Rosi Braidotti, Utrecht University; Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor, Birkbeck College.

This conference explores the shifting boundaries between life and death in contemporary culture, with special emphasis on issues of embodiment. The conference will address the proliferation of practices about ‘bio-power’ after Foucault. The common axis of reflection is biotechnology and the forms of biocapitalism that support it. On the critical side the conference will explore the forensic shift in contemporary social theory and cultural sensibility from a number of interdisciplinary perspectives. On the affirmative side, it assumes that contemporary biocitizenship affects the very being of social subjects, creating the possibility for multiple ecologies of belonging.

Speakers will include: Ian Buchanan, Claire Colebrook, Sarah Franklin, Costas Douzinas, Paul Gilroy, Steve Connor, Nicholas Rose

There will also be an Open Forum on Saturday 18 March for researchers in the early stages of their careers to present papers that are relevant to the themes of the conference. Participants are invited to submit abstracts of their presentations to Christine Weber, c.weber [AT] bbk.ac.uk, by 28 February, 2006.

For full programme and registration information please see our website or contact Christine Weber, Birkbeck Law School, 020 7631 6504. Registration £100, reduced student rate £50

Sony Reader - the end of paper?

The sony reader claims to be look just like paper and hopes to revitalise the digital book market. I use a palmpilot lifedrive and frequently read articles from my endnote database in this unit. It is not particularly easy, navigation is frustrating and the size of the text field small, but it's possible and reasonably enjoyable. I have never used a digital book reader but look forward to the prospect of integrating it with my work. This new technology reminds me of a piece I wrote a few years ago about the future of publishing. At the time, there were still no clear means through which to archive websites and urls really seemed to matter. Recently, I have noticed that films no longer have a unique url attached to the trailers. One reason for this is surely that urls are becoming much less relevant as a decriptor of some virtual place. With increasingly powerful search engines, I rarely bother to note down urls anymore, especially when they are attached to articles. All too often, the domain name of the articles changes and the easiest way to find the piece is just to google the title.

Here's the title and url [;)]: (e)text:Error...404 Not Found! or the disappearance of history http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/Cmach/Backissues/j005/Articles/AMiah.htm

Making Sports Virtual

How long will it be before we ditch the sports arena and compete as athletes - or view as spectators - within an entirely virtual reality? This is the subject of a new book I am writing for The MIT Press, tentatively titled 'CyberSport: Digital Games, Ethics and Cultures'. It will be written with a colleague of mine in Australia, Dr Dennis Hemphill. The subject of this book will feature in a Sky One (television) production to be broadcast on December 2 in the United Kingdom. The programme is about sport and technology generally, and it rounds off with a segment about the prospect of making sports virtual.

This project develops some thoughts that have been hanging around for the last five years. An early example of how they work out can be found in this piece:

Miah, A. (2002) Immersion and Abstraction in Virtual Sport, Research in Philosophy and Technology, 21, 225-233

Andy MIah Sky One Documentary on Digital Technology and Sport (2005, Dec)