Response to Hawkins & Thacker

Hawkins, J. (n.d.). When Taste Politics Meet Terror. CTheory.

This article is about the recent harassment of the Critical Art Ensemble 

Quotes-

"This episode, then, seemed to signal that art and theory both are reduced, in times of crisis, 'to an academic parlor game' -- something we do when there's nothing really on anyone's radar screen. Something we do only when it's 'appropriate'." - 2

"This case is really about the battle for and over the political unconscious of the U.S., and the ways in which art can tap into (or at least temporarily intersect with) that unconscious." - 10

Thacker, E. (2003). Data Made Flesh: Biotechnology and the Discourse of the Posthuman. Cultrual Critique, 53 (Winter), 72-97.

This article discusses the merging of the medical industry with the technology industry.

Terms –

Posthumanism -

a. Extropianism – “includes theoretical-technical inquiries into the next phase of the human condition through advances in science and technology.” - 73

b. Critical posthumanism – “includes key texts by contemporary cultural theorist brignging together the implications of postmodern theories of the subject and the politics of new technologies.” – 73

Uploading – “the parallels between neural pattern activity in the uman mind and the capacity of advanced neural networking computing will enable humans to transger their minds into more durable (read: immortal) hardware systems.” - 74

Quotes –

"Extroianism can be characterized along three main lines: (1) as a technologically biased revision of European humanism, (2) as an approach to technology as both self and not-self, and (3) as a tendency to apply life science concepts toward social and political problematics." - 75

"One of the crucial requirements for the postman is that technology be approached first and foremost as a tool. This technology-as-tool motif-an investment in enabling technology-operates in several ways." - 77

1.     “It presupposes and requires a boundary management between human and machine, biology and technology, nature and culture”- 77

2.     “Provides the assurance of the neutrality of technology” – 77

3.     “The ontological separation of human and machine is also the establishment of a certain distance between the natural and technical domains, and this distance provides a source of security for the ongoing development of the human as a product of evolution” - 77

On page 74 he discusses the singularity which makes me think of two films that include this concept, Avatar and Chappie.