Speculative posthumanism conceives posthumans as agents made inhuman by a technologically induced disconnection or “withdrawal” from human social systems. However, this “disconnection thesis” offers a very minimal conception of what posthuman life would involve and thus no criteria for evaluating the long-run implications of our technical practice. Posthuman lives, Roden argues, can only be understood by making or encountering them. Consequently, a posthuman ethics is impossible. In its place, Roden will argue, we must develop an aesthetics for technical existence. This will be explored through aesthetic models – including the “weird” fiction of China Miéville and Jeff Vandermeer, “noise” music and practices of bodily modification. Each model will be used to give nuance to the thought of a transformative encounter “at the edge of the human”.

The lecture is open to the public.

Speaker: David Roden

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