Posthumanism | Professor Andy Miah

sk-interfaces (Liverpool, FACT, Feb 2008)

New exhibition and conference starting the FACT programme. Looks good!

“Designer hymens, a composite coat made of blended skin cultures by legendary French artist ORLAN, a brain infused with glowing moss and non-animal ‘leather’ growing in the galleries, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) presents a ground-breaking UK exhibition exploring the idea of skin as a place where art, science, philosophy and social culture meet.

sk-interfaces opens 01 February until 31 March 2008.

Curated by Jens Hauser, sk-interfaces launches FACT’s Human Futures programme in Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture and as an interdisciplinary exhibition will feature works from 15 international artists, including 2007’s Golden Nica winners at Ars Electronica.

“What used to be understood as a surface that represents the limit of the self and between the inside and the outside can today be seen as an unstable border. sk-interfaces is ideally placed within the cultural programme of Liverpool 08: Artists are exploring trans-species relationships, xenotransplantation, satellite bodies, endogene design, telepresence, permeable architecture and the ever pushed limits of art itself,” says curator Jens Hauser.

Formerly known for her surgery-performances in which she refigured her face and created new images referring to non-Western cultures, ORLAN presents her new work Harlequin Coat, a patchwork life-size mantle, which contains fusing in vitro skin cells from various cultures and species. This prototype of a biotechnological coat is made to symbolise cultural cross breeding.

The Tissue Culture and Art Project’s Victimless Leather investigates the possibility of producing ‘leather’ without killing an animal. Three miniature stitch-less garments are tissue-cultured live in the gallery. Artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr are behind the award-winning lab project SymbioticA (Golden Nica in Hybrid Art 2007 Prix Ars Electronica), the Australian–based research facility dedicated to artistic enquiry.

French duo Art Orienté objet has created biopsied, cultured, hybridized and tattooed skin made from their own epidermis and pig derma to create living biotechnological self-portraits. Marion Laval-Jeantet and Benoît Mangin’s work is intended to be grafted onto collectors themselves so they can physically wear and absorb an artists’ piece.

American artist Julia Reodica’s hymNext Designer Hymen Series confronts the values of purity and gender roles using the artist’s own vaginal tissue and animal muscle cells to create designer hymens. The sculptures pose as products to be marketed and are intended as objects of novelty for ‘re-virginisation’ thus addressing the issue of how different cultures value female virginity and the associated pressures.

Zbigniew Oksiuta from Poland will come to Liverpool to create a new version of his project Breeding Spaces in which a large 3D sphere of gelatin is grown in situ. The artist proposes the possibilities of designing biological spatial structures that can serve as a new kind of habitat and presents a new form of spatial coexistence between man and nature.

sk-interfaces will also feature further commissioned and existing projects from international artists such as Eduardo Kac, Jun Takita, Wim Delvoye, Olivier Goulet, Zane Berzina and Neal White among others.

Mike Stubbs, Director and CEO of FACT says, “FACT opens its 08 programme committed to pushing at the boundaries of how and what creative technologies and art can be. Touching on some of the biggest issues of our day FACT invites debate and conversation around life sciences and our changing relationships with our bodies and technology”.”

Ethical Futures

The RSA event last week was a whirlwind through so many different technologcical futures that tying everything together was quite a challenge. We roved from Web 2.0 to artificially intelligent robot soldiers in a matter of hours.

Human Futures @ FACT

It’s perplexing how i can be invited all over the world to speak about this subject and, on my own doorstep, not a peep. There’s a moral here somewhere, and it’s a good one. Anyway, visit Human Futures @ FACT, then get down to London next week for Ethical Futures @ RSA where I am speaking to the title ‘Justifying Human Enhancement: The Accumulation of Biocultural Capital

[straight after which I'm taking a motorcycle taxi to make my train. life is complicated]

Science as Culture (CFPs)

Science as Culture
CALL FOR PAPERS: special issue on
‘Technology, Death and the Cultural Imagination’

Deadline for receipt of abstracts: November 17th, 2007

This special issue will explore concepts of death – its causes, its
prevention, its ambiguities, its interfaces with life – and how these relate
to technocultures.

As well as technologies of death (as used in warfare, execution and death
camps) and technologies closely associated with death (aeroplanes, cars and
early industrial technology, for instance), medical technologies which aim
to prevent or delay death have had a considerable impact on what it means to
die and, conversely, what it means to live. Cryonic suspension for example
keeps the body in a form of undeath and offers the possibility of
resurrection into a future world while the cloning of replacement body parts
blurs the boundaries of identity and thus poses questions about concepts of
death, life and individuality. Similarly, technologies which keep the body
‘alive’ complicate legal definitions of death. Science fiction in
particular has been concerned with reconceptualising what it means to die.

We are interested in papers which explore these ideas and their expression
in art and literature, including critiques of recent films and publications
or re-readings of classics, as well as readings of other cultural objects.
We also welcome papers which have a historical perspective and focus on
pre-twentieth century technologies of death. Subjects for consideration may
include (but are not limited to) the following:

Consumer technologies and ‘unusual’ death.
Vampires.
Modern/Postmodern Frankensteins and concepts of (re)animation
Technology and the language of death (e.g.,’collateral damage’).
Technology, global capitalism and death.
Brain death and the preservation of the body.
Technologies of/and death as the subject of art.
Science fictions of death/undeath.
Celebrity resurrections.
Drugs and the concept of ‘living death’.
Technologies and the life of the body after death.
New technologies and preservation at the point of death.
‘Ghostly’ body parts and transplanted organs.
The status of the unborn or ‘potentially’ human.

Science as Culture is dedicated to exploring the culture of technoscientific
expertise and how it shapes the values which contend for influence over the
wider society. The journal encompasses people’s experiences at various
sites – the workplace, the cinema, the computer, the hospital, the home and
the academy. The articles are readable, attractive, lively, often humorous,
and always jargon-free. SaC aims to be read at leisure, and to be a pleasure.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent, by either post or e-mail
(with SaC in the subject line) to either of the following addresses, to
arrive no later than November 17th, 2007:

Debra Benita Shaw
Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies
School of Social Sciences, Media & Cultural Studies
University of East London
4-6 University Way
London E16 2RD
United Kingdom
d.shaw[AT]uel.ac.uk

Megan Stern
Senior Lecturer in English, Critical Theory & Media Studies
Department of Humanities, Arts & Languages
London Metropolitan University
Tower Building
166-220 Holloway Road
London N7 8DB
United Kingdom
m.stern[AT]londonmet.ac.uk

Synthetic Biology, Craig Venter and Bioethics

This week, Craig Venter has been working the UK media to its fullest in what seems a whistlestop tour over to convey his work in the area of synthetic biology. In the UK, news about this broke first in the Guardian on Saturday 6th October. Venter’s website promptly indicated that the newspaper was slightly ahead of itself by announcing this work, stressing that publications are not yet in place. It seems now that they were only 3 weeks ahead of themselves as Venter has clearly broken the news on this in the fullest sense. While he still stresses that this work is futuristic and unlikely to give rise to any new life forms within his lifetime, the rhetoric of promise is interesting. Last night on BBC’s Hard Talk and on Newsnight earlier in the week, he emphasised the importance of the research for environmental sustainability. This cannot be coincidental, but appears as a decisive, partial rebranding of gentic science. So, here we have a clear handling of the media taking place drawing on persuasive rhetorics about the long-term benefit of experimental science. He talked about modifying humans to ensure they can survive in climates where greater carbon
is in the atmosphere. Nice idea. It’s all plausible, but we should still be wary of this utilization of discourses to co-opt political support for science.

I’m sure Venter’s work over this period will be the subject of many studies on science communication. Things seem much more sophisticated than they were 10 years ago, when the Human Genome was nearing completion. The ante has been upped, so to speak. Now the scientists are much more in tune with how to get the message out. I could not help but feel that the Guardian story was a first litmus test for public opinion. We’ve not seen the last of this yet.

european neuroscience and society network

The launch of the ENSN takes place in London next month on 12th and 13th November.

I’ll be there as will Alex Mauron who’s speaking in the final plenary. [Alex and I have written a couple of papers together with Bengt Kayser.]

Programme:

Neurosocieties: the rise and impact of the new brain sciences
November 12 & 13, 2007
Regent’s College Conference Centre, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London
Monday, November 12, 2007
9.00 – 9.30
Conference Registration
(Regent’s College Conference Centre, Main Lobby)
9.30-10.00
(Room D06)
Welcome: Neurosocieties: the rise and impact of the new brain sciences
Professor Nikolas Rose, Director, BIOS Centre for the study of Bioscience, Biomedicine,
Biotechnology and Society, London School of Economics
10.00-12.00
(Room D06)
Plenary One – Public health and the politics of the neurosciences
Professor Kent Woods, CEO, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
“Regulation of medicines in a changing world: the challenges of neuropharmacology”
Professor Matilde Leonardi, Neurological Institute Carlo Besta, Italy
“Neurosciences and neuropolitics: the challenge of brain disorders”
12.00– 1.00
(Room D05)
Lunch
1.00-3.00
(Room D06)
Plenary Two – Neuroeconomies: markets, choice and the distribution of
neurotechnologies
Zack Lynch, Executive Director, Neurotechnology Industry Organization
“The Global Neurotechnology Industry 2007 and Beyond”
Dr. Philippe Pignarre, University of Paris; Publisher, Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond
“The birth of neuroeconomy”
3.00 to 3.30
Coffee Break
3.30 to 5.30
(Room D06)
Plenary Three – Sources of the neurochemical self: consciousness, personhood and
difference
Professor Alexandre Mauron, University of Geneva
Dr. Ilina Singh, BIOS Centre, LSE
5.30 Wine Reception & Conference Dinner
Herringham Hall, Regent’s Conference Centre
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
9.30 – 10.00
Coffee and Tea
10.00-11.00
Workshop One:
Public health and the politics of the
neurosciences
(Room D05)
Discussants:
Dr. Andreas Roepstorff,
University of Aarhus
Dr. Joao Arriscado Nunes,
University of Coimbra, Portugal
Workshop Two:
Neuroeconomies: markets, choice and the
distribution of neurotechnologies
(Room D06)
Discussants:
Dr. Paul Martin,
University of Nottingham
Dr. Ilpo Helen,
University of Helsinki
11.00-12.00
Workshop Three:
Sources of the neurochemical self:
consciousness, personhood and difference
(Room D05)
Discussants:
Professor Kenneth Hugdahl,
University of Bergen
Dr. Cordula Nitsch,
University of Basel
Workshop Four:
Neuroscience and Society: Future
Directions in Europe
(Room D06)
Discussants:
Professor Trudy Dehue,
University of Groningen
Professor Ilse Kryspin-Exner,
University of Vienna
12.00-1.00
Lunch
1.0 to 3.00
(Room D06)
Plenary Four – Neuroscience and Society: Future Directions in Europe
Professor Steven Rose, Open University
“Future Directions in Neuroscience: a twenty year timescale”
Professor Alain Ehrenberg
“Brain, Mind and Society: the Threefold cord”
3.00-3.30 Closing Remarks
Tea and Coffee served

Bruce Sterling

Today, I joined the RCA’s Design Interactions again, at the invitation of Tony Dunne. The project was on Robot Ethics this time and I gave a lecture that talked about the relations between Prosthesis, Robotics and Artificial Life. Also speaking this morning was Bruce Sterling, whom it was a delight to meet. I have read Bruce’s work for some years and had email contact with him some time ago in relation to CTHEORY. After the morning sessions, we chewed the fat on urban regneration, Richard Florida, creativity and the trivialization of everything.

Here are some notes on his talk that I made. They might be impenetrable:

Design Interactions, Oct 8 2007

Robots
Bruce Sterling

Why no humanoid reobots?
From literature and theatre
Usually, humanoid, dim witted
Can take some limited orders from humans

Contemporary robot is different
C3P0
R2D2 – drone – remotely piloted
Humanoid vs ME: non-humanoid

Terminologies blur
- both referred to as droids

androids supposed to be different – semi-biological
- form and shape of human, but semi mechanical

gianoids – women shaped mechanical objects

robot in metropolis
- blog.wired.com/sterling
- robo veganza

when robot word invented, made from goo – poured into moulds

mechanical version came later

there is one household robot you can buy – disc shaped vacuum cleaner
- animals hate them
- can get stuff on things: destroy themselves
- no brains
- no emotional relationship
- not pets

why did robot dog fail?
- people played with it then forgot to plug it in.
- Sony iBo

These objects lack common sense, so cannot have relationship with

Put a face on our relationship to technology
- cannot have moral discussion with it
- can have one with dog – but not a robot dog

does not have morality

sony also built humanoid robot, but never launched

Institute of RoboEthics, Italy
- afraid to release, for fear of hackers

‘they can dance’

There aren’t any smart machines
- none that can ustd commonsense language
- not even translating machines

no embodiment

strings of 1s and 0s

nothing remotely behaves like this, nor getting closer to it

serious advances in robots
- intelligence NO
- solving Turing Test? NO

what we’ve got is ‘arms and legs’
- big Dog – darpa project, bath tub on legs; no head

uncanny
- not a perfect version of a robot human
- reach a

Marvin Minsky
- artificial emotions
- AI doesn’t work since human brains don’t work in the way he imagined
- Must be an emotional substrate below intelligence

Robots have no sense of preservation. They don’t reproduce

They don’t value their own existence

There’s no way for us to give them anything

Minsky now emotions

Hans Moravec
- most advanced schemes ‘bush robot’ – equipped to do nanotechnology
- ‘utility fog’ – get rid of everything and keep fingers
o a kind of gas – oozing through peoples bodies
o Behind a scheme like this is difficulty and tragedy

Melancholy tale of how the word robot was invented
- invented by a painter – jozef char

satirical play about industrialism – RUR – Rossums Universal Robots
- parody of industrial production
- basic researcher and industrial technologist
- scientist decides will make a mimic of human
- first makes a dog, but doesn’t work very well
- his son says it’s not working, so suggests try making an industrial labour
- get rid of parts that would make money – no sexuality, no emotional attachment, just really good memory, doesn’t sleep, eats anything, work tirelessly on assembly line
- robot = worker

communism,

humane

Human Futures

FACT’s new programme for 2008 is advertised in their Oct-Dec brochure. Human Futures looks to be an excellent series of exhibitions, events and debates about such themes as medicine, the body, technology, art and more. It’s so closely tied to so much of my research that I doubt I’ll have much cause to leave Liverpool while it’s running

It also shares similar themes with ‘Ethical Futures‘ , a project that I have become involved with at the RSA. Perhaps the two communities will meet

Neurosocieties: the rise and impact of the new brain sciences (12-13 Nov, LSE)

neurosocieties: the rise and impact of the new brain sciences

Launch Conference of the European Neuroscience and Society Network

November 12-13, 2007, London, UK

This conference will mark the inauguration of the ENSN, a networking project funded by the European Science Foundation and convened by researchers at the BIOS Centre, London School of Economics.

The last twenty years have seen unprecedented innovation in the neurosciences. Despite evidence that advances in the neurosciences are having a significant influence on the lives of individuals across Europe, there has been little formal engagement within the European social sciences with the ethical, social, legal and security implications of recent developments in this branch of scientific experimentation. The European Neuroscience and Society Network (ENSN) has been established to serve as a multidisciplinary forum for timely and necessary engagement with the influence of the new brain sciences on our lives.

The November conference will be the first in a series of international workshops and conferences bringing together leading neuroscientists, philosophers and social scientists for sustained discussions and cross-disciplinary dialogue on the following themes:

· Neuroscience and society: framing the agenda in Europe

· Public health and the politics of the neurosciences

· Neuroeconomies: markets, choice and the distribution of neurotechnologies

· Sources of the neurochemical self: consciousness, personhood and difference

Plenary speakers include:

Professor Kent Woods (Chief Executive Officer, UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency)

Professor Steven Rose (Open University)

Dr. Philippe Pignarre (University of Paris; Publisher, Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond)

Professor Alexandre Mauron (University of Geneva)

Zack Lynch (Executive Director, Neurotechnology Institute Organization)

Professor Wolf Singer (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany)

Numbers at the Launch conference on November 12-13 are strictly limited to ensure opportunity for participation, so please book early. To indicate your interest and request a registration form, contact Linsey McGoey (l.j.mcgoey@lse.ac.uk <mailto:l.j.mcgoey [AT] lse.ac.uk> ), Programme Coordinator, European Neuroscience and Society Network.

For more information about the ENSN, see: www.esf.org/ensn <http://www.esf.org/ensn> .

Between the Human and the Post-Human: Technology and Humanity

We are pleased to announce a forthcoming one-day conference to be held
by the Science Technology Culture Research Group at the University of
Nottingham (UK) on 19 September 2007. I would be very grateful if you
would circulate the attached poster to all interested members of your
department or institution:

Between the Human and the Post-Human: Technology and Humanity

Technological developments in fields such as IT, biotechnology,
genomics, and reproductive technologies may well take us into a new and
distinct era of human evolution. Consequently, terms such as ‘posthuman’
and ‘transhuman’, have gained a degree of common currency in recent
years. The aim of this conference is to generate new interdisciplinary
discussion on issues relating to potential reconceptualisations of the
‘human’ in the light of new technologies.

Speakers:

Don Ihde (Stony Brook University)

Lenny Moss (Exeter University)

Bronwyn Parry (Queen Mary London)

Robert Pepperell (Cardiff School of Art & Design)

To register, please contact conference organiser:
john.marks [AT] nottingham.ac.uk