Günther Anders’ philosophy of technology (as developed most fully in his two-volume monograph Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen [The Obsolescence of the Human] [1956, 1980]) has yet to be translated in full, but it’s nevertheless a productive exercise to read its title against Anders’ own intentions – that is to say, the obsolescence of the human… Continue Reading The left hand of all creation (5): Postface on chirality
Tag: technology
The left hand of all creation (4): An informal algorithm for repurposing worlds
Faced with an object world, on the standard assumption (i.e., that objects are passive or self-contained), the only option a subject has available is trying to direct and manipulate the objects composing that world. Objects have nothing much to contribute, except the details and difficulty of their pliability. Effectively, on this view, objects are virtually… Continue Reading The left hand of all creation (4): An informal algorithm for repurposing worlds
Long live the new flesh: reflections on Videodrome (1983)
According to David Cronenberg’s Videodrome (1983), we live in the midst of an occult or psychic war – “the battle for the mind of North America.” Underlying the epiphenomenal worlds of economy and sexuality, there are actually two philosophies in conflict, each vying for control of the future. Call the first Videodrome; call the second… Continue Reading Long live the new flesh: reflections on Videodrome (1983)
Astronoetic pessimism and the posthuman: Prometheus and Alien: Covenant as philosophy
Introduction Refer to part one (“Introducing astronoetic cinema”) for the necessary context in which I discuss these two films. In preface, I will note that the critical and popular reception of both films isn’t particularly positive. In part, this is because both suffer from some issues of casting and pacing. However, both films also speak… Continue Reading Astronoetic pessimism and the posthuman: Prometheus and Alien: Covenant as philosophy
Introducing astronoetic cinema
Astronautics and astronoetics Philosopher Hans Blumenberg’s posthumously published Die Vollzähligkeit der Sterne (1997, The Fullness of the Stars) introduces a novel distinction. On the one hand, there is “astronautics,” referring both to the pursuit of knowledge of the human by extending its purview to the extraterrestrial and to technical applications of that knowledge in the… Continue Reading Introducing astronoetic cinema
Notes on digital personae (1)
We need to get over the fantasy that the complex, temporally distended symbolic performances we call “online identities” really have anything much to do with personal identity at all. A digital persona is structurally analogous to the commodity form insofar as both are fungible media of transaction. Engaging in communication or symbolic action online involves… Continue Reading Notes on digital personae (1)