Posthuman Designs (2006)

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POSTHUMAN DESIGNS| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| rca/2006.10.09email@andymiah.net

dr andy miah | www.andymiah.net | andymiah.wordpress.com

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

How are science & technology

re-shaping priorities/ questions about culture?

Some examples: human cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence computer mediated communications, nanotechnology

Everyday contexts and mediaVideo gaming; science-fiction; popular press; art; weblogs; scientific documentary; cinema;

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

How are science & technology

re-shaping priorities/ questions about culture?

Some examples: human cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence computer mediated communications, nanotechnology

Everyday contexts and mediaVideo gaming; science-fiction; popular press; art; weblogs; scientific documentary; cinema;

human cloning

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human cloning

THERAELIANS

2001/2003

SEVERINO ANTINORI

2001

KOREAN TEAM

1998/2002

PANOSZAVOS

March 2004

Not (just) erroneous journalismBut, consider how different moral views are characterised

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

How are science & technology

re-shaping priorities/ questions about culture?

Some examples: human cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence computer mediated communications, nanotechnology

Everyday contexts and mediaVideo gaming; science-fiction; popular press; art; weblogs; scientific documentary; cinema;

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

How are science & technology

re-shaping priorities/ questions about culture?

Everyday contexts and medianew

technology as culture

More than just studies

of digital/cyber culture

Although…

Nayar (2004) Virtual WorldsAll new technology must be understood as a digital innovation

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technology as culturetheoretical roots

| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

Philosophy of technology

The nature of technology [technique]

Bioethics

How new technology raises moral questions about life

Cultural Theory

How technology disrupts our sense of self

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14 // brandon ballange

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What kind of life is worth living?How does technology disrupt our humanness?Should we be fearful of a ‘slippery slope’?

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Miah, A. (2003). "Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals, and Posthumanity." Journal of Evolution and Technology, 13(2)

| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS | The Other

| Aliens| Monsters

| Enhancement| Medicine| Technology

| Politics| Rights| Citizenship

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

| Politics| Rights| Citizenship

Chris Hables Gray (2002)Freedom to travel

Freedom to electronic speechRight of Electronic privacy

Freedom of consciousness (right to modify)Right to life/death

Right to political equalityFreedom of information

Freedom of family, sexuality, genderRight to peace

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS

| Enhancement| Medicine| Technology

Developed by the ExtropiansClaims a philosophical

backgroundAdvocates the use of human

technology for human betterment

Interest in radical new technologies”

Life extension, genetic engineering,

space travel, artificial intelligence

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| CYBORGS| TRANSHUMANS| POSTHUMANS | The Other

| Aliens| Monsters

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science and technology are always embedded in cultural, economic and political contexts

“the posthuman reveals an interesting interplay between the

world of scientific, bioethical theorizing and the world of the

cultural imagination – myth, SF, popular culture and religion”

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“the posthuman reveals an interesting interplay between the

world of scientific, bioethicsal theorizing and the world of the

cultural imagination – myth, SF, popular culture and religion”

Why an interest in ethics?

New technologies, New ethical issuesNeed for new ethics

E.g1. Association for Internet Researchers

Eg2. UN Declaration on Human Rights

and the Human GenomeReconsider the ethical foundation of research

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Dance Dance Revolution

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Liverpool biennial 200651

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READING

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

Smith, C. J., G. Klock, et al. (2004). "Post.hum.an.ous." Reconstruction 4(3): http://www.reconstruction.ws/043/editorial.htm [see entire volume]

Lewis, B. E. (2003). "Prozac and the Post-human Politics of Cyborgs." Journal of Medical Humanities 24(1/2): 49-63 [medicine]

Zurbrugg, N. (1999). "Virilio, Stelarc and 'Terminal' Technoculture." Theory, Culture and Society 16(5): 177-199 [artists].

Elton, M. (1997). "Robots and Rights: The ethical demands of artificial agents." Ends & Means: Journal of the University of Aberdeen Centre for Philosophy, Technology, and Society 1(1) Online. Available HTTP: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cpts/cpts/as3.hti [intelligence].

Gray, C. H. (2003). "Posthuman Soldiers in Postmodern War." Body and Society 9(4): 215-226 [politics].

Miah, A. (2003). "Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals, and Posthumanity." Journal of Evolution and Technology, 13(2) [athletes]

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