For more than a decade, the Internet has been discussed as a force that can and will revolutionize politcs and government, with some writers claiming it makes possible/necessary a new kind of participatory democracy in the United States. In Part Two of CS009, we begin with such a claim in the form of Andrei Cherny's The Next Deal.
How We Became Posthuman, chapter 1
We'll continue with Adam Stern's presentation/questions.
Chapter 10: "The Semiotics of Virtuality"
One way to think about the posthuman, then, is as a series of exchanges between evolving/devolving inscriptions and incorporations. (280)
Rachel Lauter's presentation/questions.
Chapter 11: "What Does It Mean to Be Posthuman?"
Mastery through the exercise of autonomous will is merely the story consciousness tells itself to explain results that actually come about through chaotic dynamics and emergent structures. (288)
Manu Lohiya's presentation/questions.
Summarizing Unit One: Robots, Humans and Posthumans
We'll conclude the session today by brainstorming some possible essay/book topics that connect the texts of Moravec, Arendt and Hayles.
For Monday:: Read the first 104 pages of Andrei Cherny's The Next Deal.