BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Week 10: Posthuman Environments

Andy Miah email@andymiah.net

University of the West of Scotland

2010/11

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Context• In trying to establish humanity’s place in the

world, where should we begin?• Do we consider our role in evolution, our

relationship to other species, our relationship with non-animal species, our planet?

• These considerations are relevant to posthumanism, since we are in the business of considering how humanity may shift in the coming years, as a result of technological change.

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Context: Technological Change• To this end, answering our question about what

defines posthuman envirnoments requires defining the limits of technology

• While we may talk about technologies as apparatus or artifacts, we may also claim that each of these devices are, in fact, environmental conditions.

• They shape our existence and limit our interactions with the world

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

• By extension, posthumanism is the study of our environmental interactions, from the clothes we wear, to the impact of our carbon omissions on the planet.

• This is why environmental change is central to the posthumanist debate.

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Applied Ethics• We can also identify the disciplinary shifts that

have occurred over the last 10 years and identify ‘environmental ethics’ as a part of the ‘applied ethical’ movement towards ‘bio’ issues.

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Politics• Yet, perhaps more than any other topic we have

discussed, the environment engages politics in a way that draws attention to– The limits of ethical debate– the public context within which policy debates

are played out• It is also the one issue where the evidence base

is most crucial and controversial

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Key Issues• Should we have concern for non-human life?

– How far should we expand this concern?• Is a change in society the right way to handle this

risk• Is the ‘technological fix’ a better strategy?• What does ‘respect’ for the environment involve?• How should this issue be handled on a global

level? – is it reasonable to require developing countries

to adhere to same standards?

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Screenings

• An Inconvenient Truth (2007)• The Great Global Warming Swindle

– Focus on this as the more interesting cultural artifact, not because it is right about the issue, but because it allows us to understand the way in which a dilemma becomes a norm and the impact of this

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Further Research• Cop15 – UN Climate Change Conference (2009)

– 15th meet of parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

• BP Deep Water Horizon (2010)• Climate Gate – controversy around University of

East Anglia (2009)

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Further Reading• Self-censorship and science: a geographical review of media coverage of climate tipping points,

Public Understanding of Science March 1, 2010 19: 240-256

• Ideological cultures and media discourses on scientific knowledge: re-reading news on climate change, Public Understanding of Science April 1, 2007 16: 223-243

• Evaluating the effects of ideology on public understanding of climate change science: How to improve communication across ideological divides?, Public Understanding of Science November 1, 2010 19: 743-761

• Global warming--global responsibility? Media frames of collective action and scientific certainty, Public Understanding of Science July 1, 2009 18: 421-436

• From Carbon Markets to Carbon Morality: Creative Compounds as Framing Devices in Online Discourses on Climate Change Mitigation, Science Communication March 1, 2010 32: 25-54

• Gardner, Stephen M., A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics and the Problem of Moral Corruption, Environmental Values, Volume 15, Number 3, August 2006 , pp. 397-413(17)

BECOMING POSTHUMAN

Debate

We should NOT adapt our lifestyles out of a concern for the environment.

Agree/Disagree