My research examines the cultural, intellectual and philosophical history of the idea that it is possible to improve oneself and others through technology, or 'human enhancement'. Address: Birkbeck, University of London School of Arts 43 Gordon Square WC1H 0PD
A note on 'Extraterrestrial Liberty II', a conference which explored the concept of liberty in ou... more A note on 'Extraterrestrial Liberty II', a conference which explored the concept of liberty in outer space.
AI in Sci-Fi Film and Literature, Jesus College, Cambridge, 2018
In this paper I review the ways in which artificial intelligence has been represented on-screen. ... more In this paper I review the ways in which artificial intelligence has been represented on-screen. I develop a distinction in representations between AI as robots, androids or humanoids, and systems. I look at how AI is often used as a metaphor for abstract cultural ideas of race, gender and sexuality, or as a personification of large systems, such as government, bureaucracy or the corporation.
The heist is a staple of popular crime cinema. Developed to a mature, codified form in the 1950s,... more The heist is a staple of popular crime cinema. Developed to a mature, codified form in the 1950s, the traditional heist film centered on a band of criminals executing a carefully planned crime together, with emphasis on the successful execution of the heist itself. Based on the traditional detective story, early examples in fiction usually had the gentleman thief, such as Arsène Lupin or Raffles, rather than the ensemble. While the genre has been deconstructed in films such as Reservoir Dogs (1991) and Sexy Beast (2000), there has been several highly stylised big-budget films in the last decade, such as the Oceans Eleven remake and its sequels (2001-2007), the remake of The Italian Job (2003) and in such recent blockbuster cinema such as Fast Five (2011) and Now You See Me (2013), as well as in television series such as Leverage (2008).
With roots in the classical detective story, which relies on careful narrative control in order to reveal the mechanics of a crime, one might say that the traditional detective story relied on the common pre-relativistic view of a deterministic universe to legitimise such narrative control. This paper proposes that the contemporary heist movie, while still relying on strict narrative technique and convention, has turned to a modern form of determinism: the control afforded by information and algorithm. The paper will compare the original Ocean’s 11 and Italian Job films with their contemporary remakes to explore how programming and algorithms have become colloquial metaphors for controlling outcome.
‘Five Bruno Latours’ with the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and the Literary and Critical Theory Seminar, 2013
A short paper presented for a joint session of the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and the Literary ... more A short paper presented for a joint session of the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and the Literary and Critical Theory Seminar at the Institute for English Studies, University of London.
For the session "Latourisms: Five Bruno Latours", I did a reading of Latour's "Irreductions" where I developed a concept of Humanistic Technologies. Via Latour and OOO, I argued that his concept of "entelechy" -- later "actant" -- is technological, and thus that the act of interpretation can be seen as technological. Technology is a reductive process, that creates something new of the "irreducible".
In the preface to The Book of Imaginary Beings, Jorge Luis Borges writes that ‘a monster is no mo... more In the preface to The Book of Imaginary Beings, Jorge Luis Borges writes that ‘a monster is no more than a combination of parts of real beings, and the possibilities of permutation border on the infinite.’ In this paper I make a study of this combinatorial teratology, and how the boundaries of this logic is tested in the fiction of China Miéville. Miéville combines disparate parts with abandon and in this paper I show how Miéville's teratology is part of a long tradition of monstrous thought.
This paper discusses the humanism and transhumanism of Julian Huxley. Huxley was a eugenicist, bu... more This paper discusses the humanism and transhumanism of Julian Huxley. Huxley was a eugenicist, but was ideologically opposed to the views of the founder of eugenics, Francis Galton. I compare their views, and discuss how Huxley's ideosyncratic eugenic and evolutionary ideals influenced what he would eventually come to call transhumanism.
In Charles Stross’ Accelerando, the arrival of the technological singularity is prefaced in the f... more In Charles Stross’ Accelerando, the arrival of the technological singularity is prefaced in the first section of the novel with the story of Manfred Macx, a hyper-connected, post-economic entrepreneur who relies on reputation and good-will rather than traditional monetary wealth. In a key scene, Macx’s “memory” is stolen: his computerised glasses have taken on so many of his entrepreneurial tasks and automated them that when a teenage delinquent runs off with them he becomes virtually helpless, reduced to hardly knowing who he is, much less able to continue his complex machinations.
This paper reads Accelerando in terms its well-known inspiration from the speculative transhumanist ideas from the early to mid-nineties. I trace a broad genealogy of how memory has been technologized, from the mnemotechnics of antiquity to John von Neumann’s metaphorical naming of the storage unit in his theoretical computer as “memory”, thus defining memory as the storage of information. I then link this development to the idea that the mind is computational, and how, in Stross’ novel, the metaphor of memory as information storage is literalised. For the purpose of my analysis of Accelerando, an important additional concept is Andy Clarke and David Chalmers’ Extended Mind-hypothesis, which states that cognition is not only an internal act, but which can also be exteriorised in the use of cognitive tools.
In Stross’ dramatisation, the exteriorised cognition and memory is so intertwined with Macx’s subject that without it, Macx virtually loses his personality.
The paper discusses how the technological singularity, as proposed by Vernor Vinge in a paper in ... more The paper discusses how the technological singularity, as proposed by Vernor Vinge in a paper in 1993, can be understood as a solution to a problem in science fiction as a literary genre. A more common view, that it is a scientific view of technological development should therefore be viewed with caution.
A joint review of the Superhuman exhibition at the Wellcome collection in 2012, and the conferenc... more A joint review of the Superhuman exhibition at the Wellcome collection in 2012, and the conference Enhancement, Emerging Technologies, and Social Challenges held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2012.
A note on 'Extraterrestrial Liberty II', a conference which explored the concept of liberty in ou... more A note on 'Extraterrestrial Liberty II', a conference which explored the concept of liberty in outer space.
AI in Sci-Fi Film and Literature, Jesus College, Cambridge, 2018
In this paper I review the ways in which artificial intelligence has been represented on-screen. ... more In this paper I review the ways in which artificial intelligence has been represented on-screen. I develop a distinction in representations between AI as robots, androids or humanoids, and systems. I look at how AI is often used as a metaphor for abstract cultural ideas of race, gender and sexuality, or as a personification of large systems, such as government, bureaucracy or the corporation.
The heist is a staple of popular crime cinema. Developed to a mature, codified form in the 1950s,... more The heist is a staple of popular crime cinema. Developed to a mature, codified form in the 1950s, the traditional heist film centered on a band of criminals executing a carefully planned crime together, with emphasis on the successful execution of the heist itself. Based on the traditional detective story, early examples in fiction usually had the gentleman thief, such as Arsène Lupin or Raffles, rather than the ensemble. While the genre has been deconstructed in films such as Reservoir Dogs (1991) and Sexy Beast (2000), there has been several highly stylised big-budget films in the last decade, such as the Oceans Eleven remake and its sequels (2001-2007), the remake of The Italian Job (2003) and in such recent blockbuster cinema such as Fast Five (2011) and Now You See Me (2013), as well as in television series such as Leverage (2008).
With roots in the classical detective story, which relies on careful narrative control in order to reveal the mechanics of a crime, one might say that the traditional detective story relied on the common pre-relativistic view of a deterministic universe to legitimise such narrative control. This paper proposes that the contemporary heist movie, while still relying on strict narrative technique and convention, has turned to a modern form of determinism: the control afforded by information and algorithm. The paper will compare the original Ocean’s 11 and Italian Job films with their contemporary remakes to explore how programming and algorithms have become colloquial metaphors for controlling outcome.
‘Five Bruno Latours’ with the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and the Literary and Critical Theory Seminar, 2013
A short paper presented for a joint session of the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and the Literary ... more A short paper presented for a joint session of the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and the Literary and Critical Theory Seminar at the Institute for English Studies, University of London.
For the session "Latourisms: Five Bruno Latours", I did a reading of Latour's "Irreductions" where I developed a concept of Humanistic Technologies. Via Latour and OOO, I argued that his concept of "entelechy" -- later "actant" -- is technological, and thus that the act of interpretation can be seen as technological. Technology is a reductive process, that creates something new of the "irreducible".
In the preface to The Book of Imaginary Beings, Jorge Luis Borges writes that ‘a monster is no mo... more In the preface to The Book of Imaginary Beings, Jorge Luis Borges writes that ‘a monster is no more than a combination of parts of real beings, and the possibilities of permutation border on the infinite.’ In this paper I make a study of this combinatorial teratology, and how the boundaries of this logic is tested in the fiction of China Miéville. Miéville combines disparate parts with abandon and in this paper I show how Miéville's teratology is part of a long tradition of monstrous thought.
This paper discusses the humanism and transhumanism of Julian Huxley. Huxley was a eugenicist, bu... more This paper discusses the humanism and transhumanism of Julian Huxley. Huxley was a eugenicist, but was ideologically opposed to the views of the founder of eugenics, Francis Galton. I compare their views, and discuss how Huxley's ideosyncratic eugenic and evolutionary ideals influenced what he would eventually come to call transhumanism.
In Charles Stross’ Accelerando, the arrival of the technological singularity is prefaced in the f... more In Charles Stross’ Accelerando, the arrival of the technological singularity is prefaced in the first section of the novel with the story of Manfred Macx, a hyper-connected, post-economic entrepreneur who relies on reputation and good-will rather than traditional monetary wealth. In a key scene, Macx’s “memory” is stolen: his computerised glasses have taken on so many of his entrepreneurial tasks and automated them that when a teenage delinquent runs off with them he becomes virtually helpless, reduced to hardly knowing who he is, much less able to continue his complex machinations.
This paper reads Accelerando in terms its well-known inspiration from the speculative transhumanist ideas from the early to mid-nineties. I trace a broad genealogy of how memory has been technologized, from the mnemotechnics of antiquity to John von Neumann’s metaphorical naming of the storage unit in his theoretical computer as “memory”, thus defining memory as the storage of information. I then link this development to the idea that the mind is computational, and how, in Stross’ novel, the metaphor of memory as information storage is literalised. For the purpose of my analysis of Accelerando, an important additional concept is Andy Clarke and David Chalmers’ Extended Mind-hypothesis, which states that cognition is not only an internal act, but which can also be exteriorised in the use of cognitive tools.
In Stross’ dramatisation, the exteriorised cognition and memory is so intertwined with Macx’s subject that without it, Macx virtually loses his personality.
The paper discusses how the technological singularity, as proposed by Vernor Vinge in a paper in ... more The paper discusses how the technological singularity, as proposed by Vernor Vinge in a paper in 1993, can be understood as a solution to a problem in science fiction as a literary genre. A more common view, that it is a scientific view of technological development should therefore be viewed with caution.
A joint review of the Superhuman exhibition at the Wellcome collection in 2012, and the conferenc... more A joint review of the Superhuman exhibition at the Wellcome collection in 2012, and the conference Enhancement, Emerging Technologies, and Social Challenges held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2012.
The British Library holds the personal archive of W. Ross Ashby - psychiatrist and expert in cybe... more The British Library holds the personal archive of W. Ross Ashby - psychiatrist and expert in cybernetics (the study of the control of systems using technology). In this guest post Hallvard Haug, postdoctoral fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, examines the figure of W. Ross Ashby and his key invention the homeostat - a machine capable of adapting itself to the environment.
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With roots in the classical detective story, which relies on careful narrative control in order to reveal the mechanics of a crime, one might say that the traditional detective story relied on the common pre-relativistic view of a deterministic universe to legitimise such narrative control. This paper proposes that the contemporary heist movie, while still relying on strict narrative technique and convention, has turned to a modern form of determinism: the control afforded by information and algorithm. The paper will compare the original Ocean’s 11 and Italian Job films with their contemporary remakes to explore how programming and algorithms have become colloquial metaphors for controlling outcome.
For the session "Latourisms: Five Bruno Latours", I did a reading of Latour's "Irreductions" where I developed a concept of Humanistic Technologies. Via Latour and OOO, I argued that his concept of "entelechy" -- later "actant" -- is technological, and thus that the act of interpretation can be seen as technological. Technology is a reductive process, that creates something new of the "irreducible".
This paper reads Accelerando in terms its well-known inspiration from the speculative transhumanist ideas from the early to mid-nineties. I trace a broad genealogy of how memory has been technologized, from the mnemotechnics of antiquity to John von Neumann’s metaphorical naming of the storage unit in his theoretical computer as “memory”, thus defining memory as the storage of information. I then link this development to the idea that the mind is computational, and how, in Stross’ novel, the metaphor of memory as information storage is literalised. For the purpose of my analysis of Accelerando, an important additional concept is Andy Clarke and David Chalmers’ Extended Mind-hypothesis, which states that cognition is not only an internal act, but which can also be exteriorised in the use of cognitive tools.
In Stross’ dramatisation, the exteriorised cognition and memory is so intertwined with Macx’s subject that without it, Macx virtually loses his personality.
With roots in the classical detective story, which relies on careful narrative control in order to reveal the mechanics of a crime, one might say that the traditional detective story relied on the common pre-relativistic view of a deterministic universe to legitimise such narrative control. This paper proposes that the contemporary heist movie, while still relying on strict narrative technique and convention, has turned to a modern form of determinism: the control afforded by information and algorithm. The paper will compare the original Ocean’s 11 and Italian Job films with their contemporary remakes to explore how programming and algorithms have become colloquial metaphors for controlling outcome.
For the session "Latourisms: Five Bruno Latours", I did a reading of Latour's "Irreductions" where I developed a concept of Humanistic Technologies. Via Latour and OOO, I argued that his concept of "entelechy" -- later "actant" -- is technological, and thus that the act of interpretation can be seen as technological. Technology is a reductive process, that creates something new of the "irreducible".
This paper reads Accelerando in terms its well-known inspiration from the speculative transhumanist ideas from the early to mid-nineties. I trace a broad genealogy of how memory has been technologized, from the mnemotechnics of antiquity to John von Neumann’s metaphorical naming of the storage unit in his theoretical computer as “memory”, thus defining memory as the storage of information. I then link this development to the idea that the mind is computational, and how, in Stross’ novel, the metaphor of memory as information storage is literalised. For the purpose of my analysis of Accelerando, an important additional concept is Andy Clarke and David Chalmers’ Extended Mind-hypothesis, which states that cognition is not only an internal act, but which can also be exteriorised in the use of cognitive tools.
In Stross’ dramatisation, the exteriorised cognition and memory is so intertwined with Macx’s subject that without it, Macx virtually loses his personality.