Guest Lecture for Royal College of Art, Design Interactions Master Degree, 2006

1. dr andy miah | www.andymiah.net | andymiah.wordpress.com
| CYBORGS
POSTHUMAN DESIGNS | TRANSHUMANS
email@andymiah.net | rca/2006.10.09
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2. Some examples:
human cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence
computer mediated communications, nanotechnology
How are science & technology | CYBORGS
re-shaping priorities/ | TRANSHUMANS
questions about culture? | POSTHUMANS
Everyday contexts and media
Video gaming; science-fiction; popular press;
art; weblogs; scientific documentary; cinema;
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3. Some examples:
human cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence
cloning
computer mediated communications, nanotechnology
How are science & technology | CYBORGS
re-shaping priorities/ | TRANSHUMANS
questions about culture? | POSTHUMANS
Everyday contexts and media
Video gaming; science-fiction; popular press;
art; weblogs; scientific documentary; cinema;
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4. human cloning
Not (just) erroneous journalism
But, consider how different moral
views are characterised
THE SEVERINO KOREAN PANOS
RAELIANS ANTINORI TEAM ZAVOS
2001/2003 2001 1998/2002 March 2004
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6. Some examples:
human cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence
computer mediated communications, nanotechnology
How are science & technology | CYBORGS
re-shaping priorities/ | TRANSHUMANS
questions about culture? | POSTHUMANS
Everyday contexts and media
Video gaming; science-fiction; popular press;
art; weblogs; scientific documentary; cinema;
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7. Although… Nayar (2004) Virtual Worlds
All new technology must be
understood as a digital innovation
How are science & technology | CYBORGS
re-shaping priorities/ | TRANSHUMANS
questions about culture? | POSTHUMANS
More than just studies technology as new
of digital/cyber culture culture
Everyday contexts and media
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8. The nature of technology [technique]
How new technology raises moral questions about life
How technology disrupts our sense of self
| CYBORGS
| TRANSHUMANS
| POSTHUMANS
Cultural Theory
Bioethics
Philosophy of technology technology as
theoretical roots culture
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14. // brandon ballange
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17. // eli gur-arie
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22. What kind of life is worth living?
How does technology disrupt our humanness?
Should we be fearful of a „slippery slope‟?
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24. Miah, A. (2003). "Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals, and Posthumanity."
Journal of Evolution and Technology, 13(2)
| CYBORGS | Politics
| TRANSHUMANS | Enhancement | Rights
| POSTHUMANS | The Other | Medicine | Citizenship
| Aliens | Technology
| Monsters
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25. | CYBORGS | Politics
| TRANSHUMANS | Rights
| POSTHUMANS | Citizenship
Chris Hables Gray (2002)
Freedom to travel
Freedom to electronic speech
Right of Electronic privacy
Freedom of consciousness (right to modify)
Right to life/death
Right to political equality
Freedom of information
Freedom of family, sexuality, gender
Right to peace
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26. | CYBORGS
| TRANSHUMANS | Enhancement
| POSTHUMANS | Medicine
| Technology
Developed by the Extropians
Claims a philosophical background
Advocates the use of human
technology for human betterment
Interest in radical new technologies”
Life extension,
genetic engineering,
space travel,
artificial intelligence
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28. | CYBORGS
| TRANSHUMANS
| POSTHUMANS | The Other
| Aliens
| Monsters
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29. science and technology are “the posthuman reveals an interesting
always embedded in interplay between the world of scientific,
bioethical theorizing and the world of the
cultural, economic and
cultural imagination – myth, SF, popular
political contexts culture and religion”
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30. “the posthuman reveals an interesting
interplay between the world of scientific,
bioethicsal theorizing and the world of the
Why an interest in ethics? imagination – myth, SF, popular
cultural
culture and religion”
New technologies,
New ethical issues
Need for new ethics
E.g1. Association for Internet Researchers
Eg2. UN Declaration on Human Rights
and the Human Genome
Reconsider the
ethical foundation of
research
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Revolution
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51 Liverpool biennial 2006

52. READING
Bendle, M. F. (2002). "Teleportation, Cyborgs and the Posthuman Ideology." Social Semiotics 12(1): 45-62.
Smith, C. J., G. Klock, et al. (2004). "Post.hum.an.ous." Reconstruction 4(3):
http://www.reconstruction.ws/043/editorial.htm [see entire volume]
Lewis, B. E. (2003). "Prozac and the Post-human Politics of Cyborgs." Journal of Medical Humanities
24(1/2): 49-63 [medicine]
Zurbrugg, N. (1999). "Virilio, Stelarc and 'Terminal' Technoculture." Theory, Culture and Society 16(5): 177-
199 [artists].
Elton, M. (1997). "Robots and Rights: The ethical demands of artificial agents." Ends & Means: Journal of
the University of Aberdeen Centre for Philosophy, Technology, and Society 1(1) Online. Available HTTP:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cpts/cpts/as3.hti [intelligence].
Gray, C. H. (2003). "Posthuman Soldiers in Postmodern War." Body and Society 9(4): 215-226 [politics].
Miah, A. (2003). "Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals, and Posthumanity." Journal of
Evolution and Technology, 13(2) [athletes]
Google: andy miah; bioethics and sport; posthumanism
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