Old Email Archive
Return to old archive list
digest 2006-04-15 #003.txt
litsci-l-digest Saturday, April 15 2006 Volume 01 : Number
168
In this issue:
SUB 06 Panel: The First Supper: Living and Working with Evolving
New Art/Life Forms
SUB 06 PANEL: The Immaterial Cultures of the Ether
SUB 06 PANEL: Approaches to the Fourth Dimension--Late 19th to 21st
Centuries
SUB 06- Ada Lovelaces Webs of Knowledge: The Portrayal of
Intellectual Breadth in _Zeroes and Ones_ and _Conceiving Ada_.
SUB 06: Capturing _The Life Aquatic_: Evolutionary Logics Taken By
and Taking Away Postmodernism
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:30:23 -0500
From: Brahnam
Subject: SUB 06 Panel: The First Supper: Living and Working with
Evolving New Art/Life Forms
DOUBLE PANEL PROPOSALS FOR SLSA 2006
This is a double panel with one title. We have 3
presenters per panel but could add a fourth related
presented to the second panel.
**MEDIA NEEDS**
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Projector and speakers
Note: The artists in the panel want to exhibit their
interactive work throughout the conference but will
demonstrate and discuss it in the panel.
**DOUBLE PANEL TITLE**
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The First Supper: Living and Working with Evolving New
Art/Life Forms
**ABSTRACT (For both panels)**
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sheryl Brahnam, Computer Information Systems, Missouri
State University, Panel Organizer and Chair (sbrahnam (at)
misssouristate (dot) edu)
Kenneth Gross in his essay "Moving statues, Talking
Statues" imagines the day when sculptures step off their
pedestals to join us for dinner. He is certain we will
need a manual for dealing with these animated sculptures,
a helpful "handbook (suitable for poets, critics, and
sculptors--at once a history, a book of spells, a courtesy
manual, and a diagnostic treatise)" that will tell us how
properly to address them, how set the table for them, how
lead them out of their misconceptions, and how, if
necessary, to insult and even to destroy them. That
day--when human artifacts come to dinner--is rapidly
approaching. Technology is evolving, separating itself
from the human to become a myriad of life forms. As robots
and virtual creatures begin to populate our social space,
fragments of "a history, a book of spells, a courtesy
manual, and a diagnostic treatise" are taking shape.
Papers and artwork presented in these panels explore our
evolving relationships with emerging autonomous
interactive art/life forms by examining what philosophy,
film, literature, critical theory, art interaction, and
human-computer interaction says about the 'proper human'
and its relationship to other humans, the thing, and the
animated beings in between.
KEYWORDS: Artificial Life--Autonomous Art-Robots--Walking
Sculptures--Artifact Abuse--Interactive Media
**ABSTRACTS OF PROPOSED PRESENTATIONS**
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
PANEL ONE
~*~*~*~*~*~
#1 PAPER PRESENTER:
Stephen Weininger
Worcester Polytechnic Institute and MIT
Title: Condillac's Statute and the Meaning of "Human"
Abstract: In the 17th and 18th centuries philosophers
attacked the idea that humans had innate ideas; they
argued that all our knowledge of the world derives from
the sensations conveyed to us by our sensory organs. One
thoroughgoing "sensationist," the Abb?à Condillac, imagined
a statue that is "alive" (not an innocent term) but
prevented by a marble sheath from having sensations. Then,
one by one, the various sensory organs are uncovered. The
first is the sense of smell. From this sensation alone the
statue cannot neither arrive at a sense of object or of
self. However, it has the capacity of memory and can
compare sensations. As more modes of sensation are added
the statue learns attention, judgment, reasoning,
abstraction and a host of other "human" characteristics
and finally, a conception of "self."
Various investigators have invoked a "Hume-Condillac
machine" - Teil and Latour to ask whether it might provide
a model for doing sociology, and various AI people in the
debate over whether machines can "think." In Condillac's
formulation the statue was always guided by its "needs and
interests." What can it mean for a machine to have "needs
and interests?" This talk will explore some of the
implications, enabling and limiting, of Condillac's statue
for our understanding of the meaning of "human."
#2 PAPER PRESENTER
Sheryl Brahnam
Missouri State University
Title: Autonomous Human-Like Artifacts and the
Anthropomorphic Tension
Abstract: For over a century, science fiction has painted
vivid pictures of what it would be like to live and work
alongside animated human-like artifacts. Although many a
tale ends with these artifacts taking over the world,
depictions of collegial relationships between human beings
and their artificial helpmates are equally familiar.
Researchers are aware, however, that building long-term
relationships with human-like machines is difficult and
that people are oftentimes hostile towards anthropomorphic
interfaces. These problems are often blamed on
technological limitations that irritate people and disrupt
the suspension of disbelief. It is assumed that once these
technological issues are resolved, the social cues
exhibited by the artifacts will automatically call forth
socially appropriate responses.
In this paper, I argue that an 'anthropomorphic tension'
challenges the suspension of disbelief. When confronted
with things, two powerful forces come into play: the
tendency to anthropomorphize and strong societal pressure,
especially evident in the West, to banish the
anthropomorphic for the sake of objectivity. Not only is
this tension at odds with the suspension of disbelief but
it also provides motivating grounds for abusing these
artifacts. I conclude by discussing some ethical
implications of this abuse and the unique nature of
animated human-like artifacts.
#3 ART PRESENTERS
Edmond Salsali and Rebecca Ruige Xu
Missouri State University
Title: "Encountered"
Abstract: Artificial characters are increasingly acquiring
the abilities to reveal physical and emotional reactions
to human acts. The intention of this artwork is to
metaphorically illustrate this characteristic, and to
question its potential problematic consequences in the
relationship between humans as creators and their own
creations. Our project will include real-time interaction
with 3D characters in virtual 3D environments. The user
will be able to select from a collection of characters and
environments. Each character will have different
appearance, age, and personality. The environments will
also differ in terms of setting, mood and atmosphere. The
interaction of the participant with the characters will
include making them walk, run, jump, sit, crawl, dance,
and fly. The user will have control over the shape of
his/her character's body and can bend, twist, stretch, and
bulge it to the point of total distortion. The characters
will have physical and vocal reactions to user's
manipulations. Participant can freeze the character in
space and start over a new interaction. Each cycle will
add a still, and potentially distorted character to the
artwork. Therefore, the mass of deformed 3D bodies along
with various superimposed sounds of characters will each
time result in a unique audio visual experience
PANEL TWO
~*~*~*~*~*~
#1 PAPER PRESENTER
Terence H. W. Shih
The University of Edinburg
Title: A Love Seeker: The Frankenstein Monster from an AI
Perspective
Abstract: Following Newton's mechanical worldview and
Descartes' assertion of animal-machines, equivalent to
automata, the eighteenth-century concept of artificial
humans and empiricism directly nourish Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein. In this essay, I initially investigate
artificial humans in the eighteenth-century theories of
Condillac, Hartley, and La Mettrie, in an attempt to
arrive at the mechanism of the Frankenstein monster.
Furthermore, the Monster's learning process by dint of an
empiricist view (John Locke, David Hume) clearly mirrors
that of a robot. Lastly, a philosophical discussion on the
pursuit of love will be demonstrated to make a comparison
between the Frankenstein monster and the robot child David
in the movie AI (2001).
#2 PAPER PRESENTER
Antonella De Angeli
University of Manchester
Title: Virtual companions: Power and punishment in mixed
species interaction
Abstract: For decades science fiction writers have
envisioned a world in which robots and computers acted
like human assistants, virtual companions or artificial
slaves. Nowadays, for better or for worse, that world
looks closer. A number of life-like creatures are under
development in research centres world-wide and some
prototypes have already entered our everyday lives. They
are embodied conversational agents, chatterbots and
talking heads, displaying a range of anthropomorphic
features. These artificial creatures offer information,
services and even company to whomever wants to or is
capable of engaging them.
Overall, we are witnessing an extraordinary change in
technology design: the human metaphor has become the
design model. Technology is now intentionally created to
be human-like, to show a sense of personality and
attitude, and to involve the user in social relationships.
In this paper, we will address social dynamics of these
virtual relationships within a socio-cognitive
perspective. In particular, we will discuss issues of
power distribution and punishment. The overarching goal of
this research is to propose a cyber-social model of
virtual relationships, to define the foundation for the
implementation of social intelligence in computing
machinery.
#3 PAPER PRESENTER
Michael J. Klein
Virginia Tech
Title: Hideous Progeny: Alternative (Re)production in SF
Film
Abstract: Science fiction (SF) films often focus on the
use of "non-natural" or alternative methods of
reproduction. Films such as Blade Runner, Gattaca, and The
Island warn us of the potential pitfalls of producing
humans or human-like creatures through the use of
biotechnology. The irony of these warnings, however, is
that these creatures are less to be feared and avoided
than the society that condones and orders their creation.
In Blade Runner, Gattaca, and The Island, the individuals
created through new techniques are treated as objects,
reflecting problems already evident in the societies that
created them. In Blade Runner, replicants are treated like
slaves, forced to work dangerous jobs, and hunted down and
killed whenever they escape. In Gattaca, genetically
engineered humans, while held in high regard, are forced
to assume roles and fulfill expectations that many cannot.
Finally, in The Island, clones are engineered and
conditioned to be used as spare body parts for the elite
and wealthy. All three stories involve societies that have
a disregard for life, regardless of the origins of that
life. I will demonstrate how these visions speak to the
very fears our culture has in the constant tension between
societal progress and personal autonomy.
Key Words: science fiction, film, biotechnology, cloning,
genetic engineering
BIOGRAPHIES OF PRESENTERS
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sheryl Brahnam is associate professor at Missouri State
University in the department of Computer Information
Systems. She has an MFA in art from The City College of
New York and a Ph.D. in computer science from the Graduate
Center of the City University of New York. Her research
areas include medical support systems, "smart embodiment"
for embodied agents, and theoretical discussions regarding
human-like interfaces in cultural and business domains.
Antonella De Angeli is a lecturer at the Centre for HCI
Design of the School of Informatics, University of
Manchester. Antonella's research aims to explain how users
perceive, create and make sense of social/affective
experiences with artificial entities, applying theories
and methods from social psychology, HCI and linguistics.
Antonella received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from
the University of Trieste (Italy), where she also
completed a 2-year postdoctoral research in applied
cognitive psychology. She worked as invited-researcher at
the Oregon Graduate Institute in Portland (USA), Loria,
Nancy (France) and IRST, Trento (Italy) on natural
language and multimodal communication. In 2000 Antonella
joined the NCR Knowledge Lab in London and then moved to
the Advanced Technology and Research team in Dundee (UK)
Michael J. Klein will receive his Ph.D. this July from
Virginia Tech in science and technology studies. His
dissertation focuses on the use of science fiction and
cultural metaphors in framing the debate on human cloning.
He also holds advanced degrees in rhetoric and composition
from the University of Arizona and technical communication
from Rensselaer.
Edmond Salsali is an assistant professor of new media, in
charge of the multimedia program at the department of
Media, Journalism, and Film of Missouri State University.
He teaches courses in multimedia, animation, 2D and 3D
interactivity, and Web design. He received his B.F.A. in
Graphic Design from the University of Tehran, and moved to
France to earn his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Fine Arts, and his
Ph.D. in Digital Arts from the University of Paris VIII.
During that time, he studied with Professors Edmond
Couchot, Herv?à Huitric, Monique Nahas, Michel Bret,
Jean-Louis Boissier, Christine Buci-Glucksmann, and some
other of the most influential pioneers in the digital and
interactive art fields. As part of his Doctorate
dissertation, he realized a complex, multi-sensory virtual
reality system, including interactive 3D animations, for
an installation project which has been exhibited several
times in France. In addition, he has participated in many
other individual and group exhibitions and competitions in
Europe. Edmond has taught digital arts, and worked
professionally in the multimedia field in many states in
the US and in Paris. His current research and practice
incorporate the use of virtual reality systems and their
artistic implementations, 3D game design and development,
and dynamic interactivity for online 3D applications.
Terence H. W. Shih: Bio forthcoming.
Stephen Weininger is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and Visiting
Scholar at the Dibner Institute for History of Science and
Technology, MIT. At WPI he taught, in addition to standard
courses in chemistry, a seminar on "Controversy in
Chemistry" and, with art historian David Samson, "Light,
Vision and Understanding." At MIT he works on the
relationship among science, industry and the military. In
the mid-80s Weininger co-founded, with a group of
colleagues from several institutions, the Society for
Literature and Science (SLS), the forerunner of SLSA. He
was the program chair for the first SLS conference, in
1987, and in 1989 he became the organization's second
President.
Rebecca Ruige Xu currently teaches animation and
electronic arts as an Assistant Professor of Art & Design
at Missouri State University. Her artwork and research
includes experimental animations, video installations, and
interactive multimedia projects. She received a M.F.A. in
Computer Graphics from Syracuse University and a B.S. in
Industrial Design from Beijing Institute of Technology.
She also studied Cinematography at Beijing Film Academy.
Rebecca has worked professionally in the fields of
computer animation, film special effects, digital imaging,
and multimedia design in China and the United States. Her
work has been included in many exhibitions and won awards
in both the US and abroad.
- -
+-+-+-+-+-+
Please see the following URL for the LITSCI-L archive, Web resource
links and unsubscribing info:
http://www.law.duke.edu/sls
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:12:10 -0500
From: "Linda D. Henderson"
Subject: SUB 06 PANEL: The Immaterial Cultures of the Ether
PANEL: The Immaterial Cultures of the Ether
CHAIR: Linda Dalrymple Henderson, University of=20
Texas at Austin (dnehl@mail.utexas.edu)
Electromagnetism and the Fluid Imaginary in France before 1848
John Tresch, University of Pennsylvania (jtresch@uchicago.edu)
This paper explores the overlapping theories of=20
subtle and dynamic fluids which ran through=20
French science, literature, and philosophy=20
between 1789 and 1848. Its landing point is the=20
electromagnetic research of Andr=E9-Marie Amp=E8re,=20
whose life and work inspired Honor=E9 de Balzac=92s=20
tale of modern alchemy, The Quest for the=20
Absolute. Amp=E8re=92s investigation of the dynamic=20
properties of electricity and magnetism should be=20
understood in the light of this period=92s=20
fascination with techniques for harnessing and=20
converting the fluids found in such ostensibly=20
incompatible sources as Laplacean physics,=20
mesmerism, and Naturphilosophie. In Amp=E8re=92s=20
epistemology, like that of many of his=20
contemporaries at the start of industrial=20
modernity, the worlds of mind (or spirit) and=20
extended matter could be bridged by means of=20
various material and immaterial media---
whether experimental devices, literary technologies, or the electric
ether.
The Ether, the Fourth Dimension, and Cubist Painting
Linda Dalrymple Henderson, University of Texas at=20
Austin (dnehl@mail.utexas.edu)
In most cultural histories of the 20th century,=20
the ether of space barely survives to the end of=20
the first decade of the century. If not finished=20
off by the 1887 Michelson-Morley experiment, the=20
ether is said to have died in 1905 with=20
Einstein=92s formulation of the Special Theory of=20
Relativity. But the story is not that=20
simple. Not only did the general public not hear=20
of Einstein=92s theories until 1919, the existence=20
of the ether was hotly debated among scientists=20
skeptical of Einstein=92s theories during the 1910s=20
and 1920s, with passionate defenses of the=20
concept published in both scientific and popular=20
literature by Sir Oliver Lodge and others. Like=20
the fourth dimension of space, which was also=20
largely eclipsed during the 1920s by Relativity=20
Theory, the ether was central to the world view=20
of early 20th century painters. Often linked as=20
well in this period to higher dimensional space,=20
the ether is one of the major lacunae in=20
scholarship on early modernism. This paper=20
explores the evolution of Cubist painting against=20
the backdrop of the lay public=92s understanding of=20
space as suffused with ether and possibly=20
possessing more than three dimensions.
Oliver Lodge, Movietone, and the Archived Ether
Joe Milutis, University of South Carolina (milutis@gwm.sc.edu)
For this presentation, I will introduce a rare archival news film of
Oliver
Lodge speaking on space, ether, and magnetism. The outtakes of this
1929
sound film unwittingly demonstrate the powers of space more than his
scripted address does. Diverse thinkers such as P. D. Ouspensky,
Charles
Hinton, Yogananda, and David Bohm have all thought of media technologies
as
pedagogical instruments for perceiving higher dimensions, a topic I have
taken up in my recent book Ether: The Nothing That Connects Everything.
I
will discuss these ideas in relation to the Lodge outtakes.
Seeing the Ether --from Baraduc to Beckett
Wolfgang Hagen, Humbold University Berlin (hagen@whagen.de)
This paper refers to the early days of the=20
exploration of Hertzian waves as they
were still conceived to represent disturbances of the ether. French=
psychical
researcher Hippolyte Baraduc expanded this concept to a fluidal theory
of
"vibrations de la vitalit=E9 humaine,"=20
imaginatively visualized in his so-called "psychodical
photographies." Baraduc=92s impact on the=20
invention of the "coherer" (the first receiving=20
device of radio) as well as on the avant-garde=20
around 1910 (especially Kandinsky) is a striking=20
fact. Ghost or spirit photographs served as one=20
of the blueprints for the first purely abstract=20
paintings and the horizon of the origin of radio=20
as well. In Samuel Backett=92s late productions,=20
searching for the most condensed and abstract=20
articulation of men on a scene, he worked for=20
TV. "Nacht und Tr=E4ume," one of his last works=20
(1982) ultimately reveals itself to present - a ghost picture.
Panel keywords: ether, Amp=E8re, Oliver Lodge, Cubism, Samuel Beckett
Linda Dalrymple Henderson
David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professor in Art History and
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Department of Art and Art History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station D1300
Austin, TX 78712-0337
Phone/Voice mail: 512-232-2474
Fax: 512-471-5539
Office: Doty Fine Arts Building 2.122=20
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:12:16 -0500
From: "Linda D. Henderson"
Subject: SUB 06 PANEL: Approaches to the Fourth Dimension--Late 19th to
21st Centuries
PANEL: Approaches to the Fourth Dimension--Late 19th to 21st Centuries
ORGANIZER AND PROVISIONAL CHAIR: Linda Dalrymple=20
Henderson, University of Texas at Austin (dnehl@mail.utexas.edu)
Flatland as Classical Greece
Thomas F. Banchoff, Brown University (tfb@cs.brown.edu)
William F. Lindgren, Slippery Rock University (william.lindgren@sru.edu)
Although Edwin A. Abbott was not the first person=20
to posit a two-dimensional universe inhabited by=20
geometric figures, he was the first person to=20
imagine such a space endowed with a highly=20
developed social and political structure.=20
Abbott=92s model for the social and political=20
structure of Flatland is not late-Victorian=20
England, which is certainly the target of his=20
satire, but rather classical Greece. As Frank M.=20
Turner and Richard Jenkyns have shown, there was=20
a widespread conviction among Victorian writers=20
that the historical situations of the Greek and=20
English civilizations were essentially similar.=20
To maintain this similarity, writers like Matthew=20
Arnold had to rationalize away fundamental=20
differences and ignore morally distasteful=20
elements such as Greek slavery. Abbott has=20
heightened his satire by featuring some of the=20
very elements of Greek society that these writers disregarded.
=91The Study of Permanent Things and a Moving=20
Consciousness=92: Contextualizing the=20
Correspondence of Charles Howard Hinton and William James
Elizabeth Throesch, University of Leeds (engelt@leeds.ac.uk)
In 1892, the English-born=20
popularizer of the fourth dimension, Charles=20
Howard Hinton, wrote to American psychologist,=20
William James, that he was experimenting=ADthrough=20
his fiction=ADwith =91the study of permanent things=20
and a moving consciousness=92. This idea of=20
=91permanent things=92 nicely describes Hinton=92s=20
conception of the fourth dimension of space,=20
which is very similar to a =91block universe=92 model=20
of time. For Hinton, the =91moving consciousness=92,=20
limited to the third dimension, is capable of=20
intuiting =91higher space=92, but only after rigorous=20
training and development. The Hinton-James=20
letters, spanning from 1892 to Hinton=92s death in=20
1907, provide fascinating insights into what=20
Hinton perceived to be the highest calling in his=20
life: assisting others in perceiving the fourth dimension of space.
These letters, housed at the=20
Houghton Library at Harvard University, have=20
remained relatively unexplored. In this paper I=20
will examine Hinton=92s correspondence with James=20
in detail, placing it in the context of both=20
Hinton=92s and James=92s work on consciousness, time,=20
and space. I will be particularly concerned with=20
James=92s idea of the stream of consciousness in=20
conjunction with Hinton=92s 1895 story, =91An=20
Unfinished Communication=92. This story is the=20
most experimental of Hinton=92s fictions, and a=20
likely candidate for Hinton=92s =91study of permanent=20
things and a moving consciousness=92 from the 1892 letter.
Drawing Four-dimensional Figures
Tony Robbin, Artist, New York City (TonyRobbin@worldnet.att.net)
The talk will discuss the drawing techniques used=20
by mathematicians to depict hypercubes and other=20
four-dimensional objects, and how these have been=20
borrowed and modified from existing drawing=20
techniques used by artists and architects.=20
Mathematic and artistic visualization of=20
higher-dimensional objects is a two way street:=20
techniques and influences pass both ways. Visual=20
examples will be presented including Stringham,=20
Schlegal, Shoute, Banchoff, Francis. There will=20
be a special emphasis on the collaboration of=20
topologist Scott Carter and myself.
Panel keywords: fourth dimension, geometry, consciousness, topology, art
Linda Dalrymple Henderson
David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professor in Art History and
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Department of Art and Art History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station D1300
Austin, TX 78712-0337
Phone/Voice mail: 512-232-2474
Fax: 512-471-5539
Office: Doty Fine Arts Building 2.122=20
--------------------------------------------
Ellen Moll
4/15/2006 6:22:42 PM
SUB 06- Ada Lovelaces Webs of Knowledge: The Portrayal of Intellectual
Breadth in _Zeroes and Ones_ and _Conceiving Ada_.
Name: Ellen Moll
Title: Ada Lovelace??s Webs of Knowledge: The Portrayal
of Intellectual Breadth in Zeroes and Ones and
Conceiving Ada.
This paper will compare representations of
?¨intellectual breadth?Æ in Sadie Plant??s prose
poem/theoretical work, Zeroes and Ones: Digital Women
and the New Technoculture, and Lynn Hershman-Leeson??s
film, Conceiving Ada. Both texts consider the life
and works of Ada Lovelace, the Nineteenth Century
mathematician and scientist who is considered the
first computer programmer, and both explore how
knowledge-making processes are connected to gender,
human and non-human agencies, and shifting
subjectivities. In these texts, knowledge work,
especially innovative knowledge work, entails many
kinds of boundary-crossing, intellectual and
otherwise. This comparison will examine how these
texts define and attribute ?¨intellectual breadth?Æ to
Lovelace and her works in order to examine several
questions related to the above issues. It is
especially significant that Lovelace has come to mean
a great deal to more recent communities, especially in
narratives that claim continuity between Lovelace??s
scientific and philosophical work and current debates
over how technology relates to culture, difference,
and embodiment (for example, cyborg studies). This
comparison will consider how notions of ?¨intellectual
breadth?Æ contribute to the portrayal of Lovelace as an
intellectual/political ancestor to today??s ?¨digital
women.?Æ
Keywords: Feminist theory, computer science,
mathematics, interdisciplinarity, agency,
cyberfeminism.
Contact:
Ellen Moll
moll122@yahoo.com
Ph.D. Candidate
Comparative Literature
University of Maryland
--------------------------------------
"Shackelford, Laura A."
4/15/2006 5:07:04 PM
SUB 06: Capturing _The Life Aquatic_: Evolutionary Logics Taken By and
Taking Away Postmodernism
Hi -
I'd be happy to join Manuela Rossini and Sher Doruff's proposed panel
in light of the overlap between this paper and their papers' interests
in posthumanism, neo-liberal capitalism, and evolutionary dynamics in
contemporary artistic practices.
best,
Laura Shackelford
Title:
Capturing ?´The Life Aquatic??: Evolutionary Logics Taken By and Taking
Away Postmodernism
Laura Shackelford, Visiting Lecturer, Indiana University, Bloomington
Recent theoretical interest in evolutionary logics within feminism,
science and literature, new media, and philosophy emphasizes the
possibilities recursive, dynamic, transformative evolutionary processes
provide for disrupting and re-thinking humanism??s instrumental,
teleological assumptions about relations between nature and culture,
subject and object. This emphasis on the challenges evolutionary logics
pose to humanism??s instrumental prosthetics, though, underestimates the
ways in which variants of these same evolutionary logics are already
taken up by and circulating within postmodernism and can equally serve
to support, not forestall, global capitalism??s deterritorializing
logics of ?¨flexible accumulation?Æ and other features of an
instrumental
(post)humanism. Drawing on Wes Anderson??s film, _The Life Aquatic by
Steve Zissou_, I will think through the quite divergent, contradictory
ends to which evolutionary logics are selectively enlisted in
postmodernism. These are elaborated in the film??s competing renderings
of ?¨the life aquatic,?Æ a phrase that alternately evokes the fluidity
and openness to change attributed to evolutionary processes and the
natural world and, in contradistinction, postmodernism??s
capture/branding of these processual, fluid logics (the film??s full
title is, after all, The Life Aquatic "by Steve Zissou.") The film
(in)cites postmodernism??s ?¨virtualization?Æ of nature and evolutionary
processes, acknowledging and mocking the commoditization and
digitization of the natural world and the wholesale repression of
material complexity on which it relies with its substitution of
animated digital objects for ?¨real?Æ images of aquatic life. Yet it
complicates _this_ virtualization of nature ?± the cultural production
and capture of nature as commodified artifact ?± by suggesting that
Zissou ultimately encounters and acknowledges the ?¨virtuality of the
natural,?Æ Elizabeth Grosz??s phrase for the subhuman force of
evolutionary time on subjectivity and on culture. Much of the humor in
the film arises out of the conflicts between its nostalgia for an
?¨outside?Æ to global capitalism??s commodified ?¨Third Nature,?Æ which
is
expressed via Zissou??s characterization as a ?¨dying species?Æ of
naturalist/explorer as well as in numerous references to
self-referential, autopoietic closure (submarines, islands, the film
within the film), and its simultaneous suggestion that Zissou is, in
fact, being worked over, taken up, and transformed by the very
evolutionary processes and ?¨Changes?Æ that he imagines postmodernism to
have eradicated or overcome. The life aquatic (as a figure for material
complexity), it seems, trumps The Life Aquatic that hegemonic
postmodernism authors or authorizes. This paper will consider the
potential and limits to such processes of ?¨becoming aquatic,?Æ of
engaging evolutionary time to develop an open-ended, enactive view of
cultural processes in selective touch with material complexity. It will
differentiate between strains of becoming (post)human, addressing the
ways in which such apparently transformative processes can also feed
back into a heightened instrumentalism, masculinism, and Euro-American
imperialism in postmodernism.
Keywords: Evolutionary time, critical posthumanisms, artificial life,
autopoiesis and structural coupling (Maturana and Varela/Niklas
Luhmann), digital media/global capitalism.
-
+-+-+-+-+-+
Please see the following URL for the LITSCI-L archive, Web resource
links and unsubscribing info:
http://www.law.duke.edu/sls
