Representing Post Human Enhancement Technologies In Twenty First Century Us Fiction

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Representing (Post)Human Enhancement Technologies in Twenty-First Century US Fiction

Carmen Laguarta-Bueno
Representing Post Human Enhancement Technologies in Twenty First Century US Fiction Book PDF

Author : Carmen Laguarta-Bueno
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2022-10-07
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781000655339

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Representing (Post)Human Enhancement Technologies in Twenty-First Century US Fiction by Carmen Laguarta-Bueno Pdf

This work studies three twenty-first century novels by Richard Powers, Dave Eggers and Don DeLillo as representative of a new trend of US fiction concerned with the topic of the technological augmentation of the human condition. The different chapters provide, from the double perspective of the optimistic transhumanist philosophy and the more balanced approach of critical posthumanism, an overview of the narrative strategies used by the writers to explore the possibilities that biotechnology, digital technologies and cryonics open up to transcend our human limitations, while also warning their readers of their most nefarious consequences. Ultimately, the book puts forward the claim that even if the writers approach the subject from a variety of perspectives and using different narrative styles and techniques, they all share a critical posthumanist fear that an unrestrained and unquestioned use of technology for enhancement purposes may bring about disembodiment and dehumanization.

Representing (Post)Human Enhancement Technologies in Twenty-First Century US Fiction

Carmen Laguarta-Bueno
Representing Post Human Enhancement Technologies in Twenty First Century US Fiction Book PDF

Author : Carmen Laguarta-Bueno
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 197 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2022-10-07
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781000655285

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Representing (Post)Human Enhancement Technologies in Twenty-First Century US Fiction by Carmen Laguarta-Bueno Pdf

This work studies three twenty-first century novels by Richard Powers, Dave Eggers and Don DeLillo as representative of a new trend of US fiction concerned with the topic of the technological augmentation of the human condition. The different chapters provide, from the double perspective of the optimistic transhumanist philosophy and the more balanced approach of critical posthumanism, an overview of the narrative strategies used by the writers to explore the possibilities that biotechnology, digital technologies and cryonics open up to transcend our human limitations, while also warning their readers of their most nefarious consequences. Ultimately, the book puts forward the claim that even if the writers approach the subject from a variety of perspectives and using different narrative styles and techniques, they all share a critical posthumanist fear that an unrestrained and unquestioned use of technology for enhancement purposes may bring about disembodiment and dehumanization.

Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Twenty-First Century Narrative

Sonia Baelo-Allué,Mónica Calvo-Pascual
Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Twenty First Century Narrative Book PDF

Author : Sonia Baelo-Allué,Mónica Calvo-Pascual
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 335 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2021-05-05
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781000374018

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Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Twenty-First Century Narrative by Sonia Baelo-Allué,Mónica Calvo-Pascual Pdf

Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Twenty-First Century Narrative brings together fifteen scholars from five different countries to explore the different ways in which the posthuman has been addressed in contemporary culture and more specifically in key narratives, written in the second decade of the 21st century, by Dave Eggers, William Gibson, John Shirley, Tom McCarthy, Jeff Vandermeer, Don DeLillo, Margaret Atwood, Cixin Liu and Helen Marshall. Some of these works engage in the premises and perils of transhumanism, while others explore the qualities of the (post)human in a variety of dystopian futures marked by the planetary influence of human action. From a critical posthumanist perspective that questions anthropocentrism, human exceptionalism and the centrality of the ‘human’ subject in the era of the Anthropocene, the scholars in this collection analyse the aesthetic choices these authors make to depict the posthuman and its aftereffects.

Futures of the Human Subject

Sławomir Kozioł
Futures of the Human Subject Book PDF

Author : Sławomir Kozioł
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2022-09-07
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781000638097

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Futures of the Human Subject by Sławomir Kozioł Pdf

Futures of the Human Subject focuses on the representation of the effects of technology use on human subjectivity in several recent near-future science fiction novels. Sharing the idea that human subjects are constructed in the world in which they exist, this volume inscribes itself in the wider field of posthumanism which contests the liberal humanist notion of people as self-contained, autonomous agents. At the same time, it is the first substantial study of literary representations of the human subject carried out within the conceptual framework of Foucault-inflected philosophy of technical mediation, which examines the nature of the relation between people and specific technologies as well as the way in which this relation affects human subjectivity. As such, the book may help readers to exercise more effective control over the way in which they are constituted as subjects in this technologically saturated world.

The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non/Human

Fabienne Collignon
The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non Human Book PDF

Author : Fabienne Collignon
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2022-12-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781000826883

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The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non/Human by Fabienne Collignon Pdf

The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non/Human defines, conceptualizes, and evaluates the insectile—pertaining to an entomological fascination—in relation to subject formation. The book is driven by a central dynamic between form and formlessness, further staging an investigation of the phenomenon of fascination using Lacanian psychoanalysis, suggesting that the psychodrama of subject formation plays itself out entomologically. The book’s engagement with the insectile—its enactments, cultural dreamwork, fantasy transformations—‘in-forming’ the so-called human subject undertakes a broader deconstruction of said subject and demonstrates the foundational but occluded role of the insectile in subject formation. It tracks the insectile across the archives of psychoanalysis, seventeenth century still life painting, novels from the nineteenth century to the present day, and post-1970s film. The Insectile and the Deconstruction of the Non/Human will be of interest for scholars, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduates in film studies, visual culture, popular culture, cultural and literary studies, comparative literature, and critical theory, offering the insectile as new category for theoretical thought.

Ayn Rand and the Posthuman

Ben Murnane
Ayn Rand and the Posthuman Book PDF

Author : Ben Murnane
Publisher : Springer
Page : 197 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-17
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783319908533

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Ayn Rand and the Posthuman by Ben Murnane Pdf

Ayn Rand and the Posthuman is a study of the American novelist’s relationship with twenty-first-century ideas about technology. Rand wrote science fiction that has inspired Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, politicians, and economists. Ben Murnane demonstrates Rand’s connection to, and impact on, those with a “posthuman” vision, in which human and machine merge. The text examines the philosophical intersections between Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and posthumanism, and Rand’s influence on transhumanism, a major branch of posthumanist thought. The book further investigates Rand’s presence and portrayal in various examples of posthumanist science fiction, including Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, popular videogame BioShock, and Zoltan Istvan’s novel The Transhumanist Wager. Considering Rand’s influence from a cultural, political, technological, and economic perspective, this study throws light on an under-documented but highly significant aspect of Rand’s legacy.

Technophobia!

Daniel Dinello
Technophobia Book PDF

Author : Daniel Dinello
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2013-08-26
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780292758469

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Technophobia! by Daniel Dinello Pdf

Techno-heaven or techno-hell? If you believe many scientists working in the emerging fields of twenty-first-century technology, the future is blissfully bright. Initially, human bodies will be perfected through genetic manipulation and the fusion of human and machine; later, human beings will completely shed the shackles of pain, disease, and even death, as human minds are downloaded into death-free robots whereby they can live forever in a heavenly "posthuman" existence. In this techno-utopian future, humanity will be saved by the godlike power of technology. If you believe the authors of science fiction, however, posthuman evolution marks the beginning of the end of human freedom, values, and identity. Our dark future will be dominated by mad scientists, rampaging robots, killer clones, and uncontrollable viruses. In this timely new book, Daniel Dinello examines "the dramatic conflict between the techno-utopia promised by real-world scientists and the techno-dystopia predicted by science fiction." Organized into chapters devoted to robotics, bionics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other significant scientific advancements, this book summarizes the current state of each technology, while presenting corresponding reactions in science fiction. Dinello draws on a rich range of material, including films, television, books, and computer games, and argues that science fiction functions as a valuable corrective to technological domination, countering techno-hype and reflecting the "weaponized, religiously rationalized, profit-fueled" motives of such science. By imaging a disastrous future of posthuman techno-totalitarianism, science fiction encourages us to construct ways to contain new technology, and asks its audience perhaps the most important question of the twenty-first century: is technology out of control?

The Transhumanist Reader

Max More,Natasha Vita-More
The Transhumanist Reader Book PDF

Author : Max More,Natasha Vita-More
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2013-03-05
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781118555996

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The Transhumanist Reader by Max More,Natasha Vita-More Pdf

The first authoritative and comprehensive survey of the origins and current state of transhumanist thinking The rapid pace of emerging technologies is playing an increasingly important role in overcoming fundamental human limitations. Featuring core writings by seminal thinkers in the speculative possibilities of the posthuman condition, essays address key philosophical arguments for and against human enhancement, explore the inevitability of life extension, and consider possible solutions to the growing issues of social and ethical implications and concerns. Edited by the internationally acclaimed founders of the philosophy and social movement of transhumanism, The Transhumanist Reader is an indispensable guide to our current state of knowledge of the quest to expand the frontiers of human nature.

Transhumanism and Society

Stephen Lilley
Transhumanism and Society Book PDF

Author : Stephen Lilley
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 89 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2012-07-31
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789400749818

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Transhumanism and Society by Stephen Lilley Pdf

This book provides an introductory overview to the social debate over enhancement technologies with an overview of the transhumanists' call to bypass human nature and conservationists' argument in defense of it. The author present this controversy as it unfolds in the contest between transhumanists proponents and conservationists, who push back with an argument to conserve human nature and to ban enhancement technologies. This book provides an overview of the key contested points and present the debate in an orderly, constructive fashion. Readers are informed about the discussion over humanism, the tension between science and religion, and the interpretation of socio-technological revolutions; and are invited to make up their own mind about one of the most challenging topics concerning the social and ethical implications of technological advancements.

Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures

Debashish Banerji,Makarand R. Paranjape
Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures Book PDF

Author : Debashish Banerji,Makarand R. Paranjape
Publisher : Springer
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2016-10-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9788132236375

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Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures by Debashish Banerji,Makarand R. Paranjape Pdf

This volume is a critical exploration of multiple posthuman possibilities in the 21st century and beyond. Due to the global engagement with advanced technology, we are witness to a species-wise blurring of boundaries at the edge of the human. On the one hand, we find ourselves in a digital age in which human identity is being transformed through networked technological intervention, a large part of our consciousness transferred to "smart" external devices. On the other hand, we are assisted---or assailed---by an unprecedented proliferation of quasi-human substitutes and surrogates, forming a spectrum of humanoids with fuzzy borders. Under these conditions, critical posthumanism asks, who will occupy and control our planet: Will the "superhuman" merely serve as another sign under which new regimes of dominance are spread across the earth? Or can we discover or invent technologies of existence to counter such dominance? It is issues such as these which are at the heart of this new volume of explorations of the posthuman. The essays in this volume offer leading-edge thought on the subject, with special emphases on postmodern and postcolonial futures. They engage with questions of subalternity and feminism vis-à-vis posthumanism, dealing with issues of subjugation, dispensability and surrogacy, as well as the possibilities of resistance, ethical politics or subjective transformation from South Asian archives of cultural and spiritual practice. This volume is a valuable addition to the on-going global dialogues on posthumanism, indispensable to those, from across several disciplines, who are interested in postcolonial and planetary futures.

Prophets of the Posthuman

Christina Bieber Lake
Prophets of the Posthuman Book PDF

Author : Christina Bieber Lake
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2013-09-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780268158699

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Prophets of the Posthuman by Christina Bieber Lake Pdf

Prophets of the Posthuman provides a fresh and original reading of fictional narratives that raise the question of what it means to be human in the face of rapidly developing bioenhancement technologies. Christina Bieber Lake argues that works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor, Toni Morrison, George Saunders, Marilynne Robinson, Raymond Carver, James Tiptree, Jr., and Margaret Atwood must be reevaluated in light of their contributions to larger ethical questions. Drawing on a wide range of sources in philosophical and theological ethics, Lake claims that these writers share a commitment to maintaining a category of personhood more meaningful than that allowed by utilitarian ethics. Prophets of the Posthuman insists that because technology can never ask whether we should do something that we have the power to do, literature must step into that role. Each of the chapters of this interdisciplinary study sets up a typical ethical scenario regarding human enhancement technology and then illustrates how a work of fiction uniquely speaks to that scenario, exposing a realm of human motivations that might otherwise be overlooked or simplified. Through the vision of the writers she discusses, Lake uncovers a deep critique of the ascendancy of personal autonomy as America’s most cherished value. This ascendancy, coupled with technology’s glamorous promises of happiness, helps to shape a utilitarian view of persons that makes responsible ethical behavior toward one another almost impossible. Prophets of the Posthuman charts the essential role that literature must play in the continuing conversation of what it means to be human in a posthuman world.

Posthumanism

Pramod K. Nayar
Posthumanism Book PDF

Author : Pramod K. Nayar
Publisher : Polity
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780745662404

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Posthumanism by Pramod K. Nayar Pdf

This timely book examines the rise of posthumanism as both a material condition and a developing philosophical-ethical project in the age of cloning, gene engineering, organ transplants and implants. Nayar first maps the political and philosophical critiques of traditional humanism, revealing its exclusionary and ‘speciesist’ politics that position the human as a distinctive and dominant life form. He then contextualizes the posthumanist vision which, drawing upon biomedical, engineering and techno-scientific studies, concludes that human consciousness is shaped by its co-evolution with other life forms, and our human form inescapably influenced by tools and technology. Finally the book explores posthumanism’s roots in disability studies, animal studies and bioethics to underscore the constructed nature of ‘normalcy’ in bodies, and the singularity of species and life itself. As this book powerfully demonstrates, posthumanism marks a radical reassessment of the human as constituted by symbiosis, assimilation, difference and dependence upon and with other species. Mapping the terrain of these far-reaching debates, Posthumanism will be an invaluable companion to students of cultural studies and modern and contemporary literature.

Singularities

Joshua Raulerson
Singularities Book PDF

Author : Joshua Raulerson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781846319723

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Singularities by Joshua Raulerson Pdf

Amid the seemingly exponential advancement of technology and the increasingly portentous implications of its continued development and proliferation, many futurists speculate about an imminent historical threshold when the nature of human existence will be forever changed—the Singularity. In Singularities, Joshua Raulerson mounts a wide-ranging study of the Singularity as a subject for theory and cultural studies, drawing science fiction texts into a complex dialogue with digital culture, transhumanist movements, political and economic theory, consumer gadgetry, gaming, and related areas of our high-tech postmodernity. By doing so, he shows how the Singularity greatly shapes many of our contemporary anxieties and aspirations.

Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject

Richard S. Lewis
Technology Media Literacy and the Human Subject Book PDF

Author : Richard S. Lewis
Publisher : Open Book Publishers
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2021-06-03
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9781800641853

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Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject by Richard S. Lewis Pdf

Media literacy is often focused on evaluating the message rather than reflecting on the medium. Bringing together postphenomenology, media ecology, posthumanism, and complexity theory, Richard Lewis’s book offers a method for such a reflection and shows how our everyday media environments constitute us as (post)human subjects: one that is becoming and constitutes through relations – also with our media technologies. An original interdisciplinary effort – including for example the term 'intrasubjective mediation' – and a must-read book for everyone interested in how we become with and through technologies. Prof Mark Coeckelbergh, University of Vienna Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject is a clearly and concisely written book that employs a fruitful transdisciplinary approach. It at once offers an excellent grounding in the literature, whilst simultaneously developing a useful tool for students to reflect deeply and critically upon their own engagement with media. Thoroughly recommended. Alexander Thomas, University of East London What does it mean to be media literate in today’s world? How are we transformed by the many media infrastructures around us? We are immersed in a world mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs). From hardware like smartphones, smartwatches, and home assistants to software like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, our lives have become a complex, interconnected network of relations. Scholarship on media literacy has tended to focus on developing the skills to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages without considering or weighing the impact of the technological medium—how it enables and constrains both messages and media users. Additionally, there is often little attention paid to the broader context of interrelations which affect our engagement with media technologies. This book addresses these issues by providing a transdisciplinary method that allows for both practical and theoretical analyses of media investigations. Informed by postphenomenology, media ecology, philosophical posthumanism, and complexity theory the author proposes both a framework and a pragmatic instrument for understanding the multiplicity of relations that all contribute to how we affect—and are affected by—our relations with media technology. The author argues persuasively that the increased awareness provided by this posthuman approach affords us a greater chance for reclaiming some of our agency and provides a sound foundation upon which we can then judge our media relations. This book will be an indispensable tool for educators in media literacy and media studies, as well as academics in philosophy of technology, media and communication studies, and the post-humanities.

Better Humans?

Paul Miller,James Wilsdon
Better Humans Book PDF

Author : Paul Miller,James Wilsdon
Publisher : Demos Medical Publishing
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : UOM:39015064939583

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Better Humans? by Paul Miller,James Wilsdon Pdf

We all share a desire for self-improvement.Whether through education, work, parenthood or adhering to religious or ethical codes, each of us seeks to become a 'better human' in a variety of ways. And for some people, more consumerist pursuits hold the key to self-improvement: working out in the gym, wearing makeup, buying new clothes, or indulging in a spot of cosmetic surgery. But now a new set of possibilities is opening up. Advances in biotechnology, neuroscience, computing and nanotechnology mean that we are in the early stages of a period of huge technological potential. Within the next 30 years, it may become commonplace to alter the genetic make-up of our children, to insert artificial implants into our bodies, or to radically extend life expectancy. This collection of essays by leading scientists and commentators explores the implications of human enhancement technologies and asks how citizens and policy-makers should respond.